When we come to the Word of God, we need to open our entire being. We need to use our whole being, our body, soul, and spirit. We use our eyes to read the words and our mouth to sound out the words. We also use our mind, the main part of the soul, to understand what we read. We may need to use lexicons, concordances, and different versions and translations. God created us with a mind, and we need to use it in understanding the Word of God. The study of the Bible also requires the exercise of our emotion to love the Word and the exercise of our will to take God’s way in His Word. This exercise of the mind, emotion, and will is the exercise of the soul. But we also need to exercise our spirit. Primarily this is to pray so that our inner man may be strengthened. If we use our whole being in contacting the Word, we shall receive light and life supply.
From our experience we know that the life supply we receive causes us to be watered. First we have enlightenment; second, life supply; and third, watering. The psalmist also experienced this.
According to Psalm 1, those who muse upon the Word of God are like trees planted by a river of water. In order for a tree to grow, it must have roots, and on these roots there must be tiny root hairs to absorb the water. In reading the Bible, many Christians are like trees planted by the river. Some, however, do not have proper roots, whereas others have roots, but no root hairs.
Perhaps you are wondering what, experientially, I mean by root hairs. To have root hairs requires that we go deeper into the Word in a very fine way. Often we fail to receive the life supply because we are too rough. Lacking fineness, we are short of the tiny, delicate root hairs. Because we care only for the big roots, not for the root hairs, we are not able to receive the life supply, which always comes through the fine contact of the root hairs with the water. If we would be watered through the Word, we need to contact the Word not in a rough way, but in a very fine way.
What does it mean to contact the Word in a rough way? It means that you simply read it with your eyes and utter something with your mouth, not even caring for a proper understanding of the Word. Rough people are shallow. Although they may be trees planted by the river, they do not have proper roots. I am afraid that some of the saints in the Lord’s recovery are like this. Yes, they are trees planted by the river, but they are too rough. With them everything is outward, a matter of what they see with their physical eyes and utter with their mouths. Their knowledge of the Bible goes no deeper than what they see and speak. Because those who are rough in coming to the Word do not have proper roots, they do not grow in life.
As we have pointed out, some Christians have roots, but they do not have any fine root hairs. We need to let the Word go deeper in us in a fine way, and we must also allow our being to sink deeper into the Word, also in a fine way. When we go along with the Word and the Word comes into our spirit, in our experience we shall have the root hairs. These root hairs will then absorb the life supply. Our experience testifies that when we go deeper into the Word and the Word enters deeper into us, into our spirit, we have a finer contact with the Word and receive life.
When we are in the spirit, we are very fine, not at all coarse or rough. It is not possible to be rough and still be in spirit. Everyone who enters into the spirit becomes a very fine person. If someone is rough, he is surely in the flesh. If he is somewhat fine, he is in the soul. But if he is very fine, he has entered into the spirit. The root hairs which absorb the life supply are found only in our spirit.
Through the root hairs we absorb the life supply, which is food in the form of water. Even in eating our physical food we need water. We cannot masticate our food and swallow it without water. In spiritual experience, the food supply is in the water. The trees planted by the river receive nourishment from the water. All the nourishment is contained in the water. The tiny root hairs absorb the water and thereby absorb the nourishment that is in the water.
The word of the Bible must enter into our spirit and become the water containing all the elements of nourishing food. This water is not in our mouth, nor in our mind, but only in our spirit. The water of the life supply always goes down to our spirit.
When we read the Bible only with our eyes and mouth, we are rough. When we try to understand the Word by exercising our mind, by loving it, and taking it with our will, we exercise our soul. This is somewhat fine. But when we exercise our spirit to pray, our whole being is brought into the spirit, and the Word enters into our spirit also. Actually, we bring the Word with ourselves into the spirit, and there we find the water.
The Spirit of God does not inhabit our mind; He dwells in our spirit. In the Bible the Word is likened to food, whereas the Spirit is likened to water. The Word as food may remain in our mind, but in order for it to become the Spirit as water, it must enter into our spirit. When the Word becomes water in our spirit, we receive its nourishing elements. Then we have the enlightenment, the life supply, and the watering.
When we experience the enlightenment, the life supply, and the watering, we shall have other blessings through the Word: restoration (19:7a), deliverance (119:41, 170), strength (119:28), comfort (119:76), nourishment (119:103), upholding (119:117), and safeguard. The reference to strength in 119:28 refers not to something doctrinal, but to something that fills us inwardly and energizes us. This must denote an organic element, for only something organic can enter our being to strengthen us. The fact that the Word of God strengthens us indicates that it imparts an organic element into us.
As we are strengthened by the Word, we are comforted, nourished, and upheld by it. In ourselves we can easily be shaken: it is very easy for us to fall. In order to stand, we need a living support. The living support by which we stand is the Word of God which upholds us continually. Furthermore, the Word of God is our safeguard and protection.
The living Word is not a systematic theology; it is God Himself. From experience I have learned to care for the real enjoyment of the living God in His living Word. I do not care for theology—I value the genuine experience of God through the Word.
If we consider all the matters we have covered in this message in the light of our experience, we shall be able to testify that through the Word we receive enlightenment, quickening, and watering. By the living Word of God we are restored, strengthened, delivered, comforted, nourished, upheld, and safeguarded. May we all be encouraged to be in a proper condition whenever we contact the Word, so that the Word may come into our mind and then pass through our mind into our spirit, where it becomes the life supply. If the Word becomes life in our spirit, then we shall enjoy all the other blessings afforded to God’s loving seekers through His living Word.