The question itself was, “Who was Enoch?”, but it was the context of the question that made it so remarkable. Several years ago, in the church where I was, at the the time, Pastor, I was talking to a few folk before the evening service when a young man in his 20s walked in off the street and having discovered I was the Pastor asked me the question, “Who was Enoch?”
I was completely taken aback for a few reasons. Firstly for a young unchurched man as he clearly was to walk into a local church on a Sunday was remarkable in itself. Secondly, the question itself seemed so random and not the sort of issue you would have expected this young man to be wrestling with. But here’s what made it so jaw-droppingly remarkable – I had just begun a series on Hebrews a few weeks earlier and on this particular Sunday I was about to preach on Hebrews 11:5 – “By faith Enoch….”!
So I said to Jamie, for that was his name, “Well, believe it or not, that is the subject of our study this evening so if you are willing to stay for the service, hopefully you’ll get your answer”. “OK”, he said, “I’ll go and fetch my girlfriend and I’ll be back”. I confess that I took this as a polite way to say ‘thanks, but no thanks’, but, true to his word, 15 minutes later Jamie returned with said girlfriend in tow and a pizza in hand and they stayed for the whole service and, what’s more, I have every reason to believe that Jamie was savingly converted that very night.”
What a truly remarkable example of divine providence at work!