Some may say, “Brother Lee, this is too legal. Spending time in the Word every day is a legality.” It seems that the word legal is not good and that legalities should be terminated. However, in a certain sense, if there is no legality, there can be no life. If we consider carefully, we will see that four legalities are needed for our physical life—eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping. These legalities are actually necessities of life. If we do not eat, drink, breathe, and sleep, we will not live long. No one would say, “Eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping are too legal. I want to be liberated from the bondage of these legalities.” If we are liberated from the “legality” of breathing for only five minutes, we will die. We should not be liberated from these legalities. We need to keep these legalities.
We need to change our concepts regarding spending time with the Lord in the Word every morning. First, we need to see that it is possible for everyone to set aside the time in the morning to come to the Word. Where there is a will, there is a way. Second, we should not consider this a legality. Reading the Bible is not a legality; it is a necessity of life. However, in a sense, it may be good to apply the word legality to this matter. We need to be bound by the practice of daily spending time in the Word. We should take this bondage as a necessity. Apart from the Word there is no way for us to receive life, light, strength, or power from the Lord.
To spend time in the Word is to enter into God’s breathing. More than anything else, we surely need God’s breathing. Whether or not we fully understand the words of the Bible, as long as we read them with a sincere heart and an open spirit, we will enjoy God’s breathing. Many people walk outside in the morning to be in the fresh air. We do not need to understand the air in order to breathe it in and be refreshed by it. Likewise, we all need to be refreshed each morning by enjoying God’s breathing.
Many of us do not have a good memory. We may forget the first verse we read while we are reading the second. Then if we read a third verse, the second may be gone. Many saints are faithful to try to memorize the verses as they read them, but we do not need to do this. Trying to remember every verse will prevent us from having the proper Bible reading. When we come to the Word, we should not worry about memorizing. If we can remember what we read, this is good. If we cannot remember what we read, this is all right also. Forcing ourselves to memorize as we read will deaden our Bible reading.
Forty years ago in Shanghai, a sister inquired of Brother Watchman Nee, “Brother Nee, I have a poor memory. I immediately forget whatever I read from the Bible. It seems to me that I do not need to read the Bible, because the words of the Bible just come and go. Is it not a waste of time for me to read the Bible?” Brother Nee gave this sister a very good answer. He described how the women in southern China wash their rice by placing it in a basket made of willow branches, which serves as a strainer. They repeatedly dip the basket into the water and pull it out, and the water immediately flows out. Thus, the water comes and goes, but no water remains in the basket. No one would say that this method does not work because no water remains. Actually, because all the water comes and goes, all the dirt is washed away. Not only is the rice washed, but the basket is cleansed as well. Brother Nee shared that we are like these baskets, and the word of God is like the water. We cannot retain every verse in our memory, but we nevertheless receive a great benefit from reading the Word and being cleansed by the water in the word (Eph. 5:26).
This fellowship from Brother Nee has been a great help to me, and I can testify from my experience that it is true. If we do not come to the Word of God for one week, our thinking, our will, and our emotion will be very dirty spiritually. However, if we read the Bible day by day, even if we have no intention to be cleansed, the word will spontaneously pass through our mind, our emotion, and our will to cleanse all our inward parts. As the water of the word comes and goes, we will be cleansed. We can never exhaust the benefits we receive from reading the Word.