Emphasizing Digestion Rather Than Content

Some people propose that we should read the Bible once a year by reading three chapters in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament every day. We do not need to force ourselves to read four chapters every day. There is no need to bear the heavy burden of rushing through the Bible in this way. Today I am breaking all the chains that bind us. We simply need to find time every day to focus on eating and drinking God. We can do this once a day or two or more times a day. How do we eat? We eat by reading in the way of praying and by praying in the way of reading. There is no need to be confined to one verse or even one chapter. There is no set rule. This can be compared to eating. Sometimes we may eat one slice of bread. At other times we may eat three bowls of porridge. There is no legal requirement. There is no need to worry about how much food is in the pantry. We simply need to consider how much we can eat and digest that day. If our appetite is not good, we eat less. When our appetite is better, we eat more. We should apply this to reading the Word. The Bible is very rich. I have been reading it for thirty-four years. Sometimes when I read the Word, I can take in only five or six words. I once said that I would need a month to read through Psalm 133. Others thought that I was exaggerating. They wondered how I could spend a month to read three verses. I actually needed two months. I read it day after day. That psalm is very rich. We are not concerned with how many verses we read; we are concerned with how much we have digested. May all of God’s children learn this way of reading the Word—the way of eating and drinking God.

If we have the way, we can set aside other times to read through more chapters. This can be compared to quickly looking to see how much food is in the pantry. For example, we might read through all fifty chapters of Genesis in two hours. Although there is nothing wrong with this, it is different from eating a meal. This is browsing through the kitchen; it is not eating and drinking God. This is merely reading Bible stories. The most precious experience, however, is to set aside a definite time during the day to read with prayer and pray with reading, in other words, to pray-read and read-pray. Such reading does not need to take a lot of time. It is not necessarily healthy to read for a long period of time. Eating too much can lead to indigestion.

Stopping Frequently to Meditate

In this way of pray-reading one often wonders whether he is praying or reading. Our reading becomes our praying, and our praying becomes our reading. As we do this, we should also meditate; we need some “selahs.” I have said that the selahs in the psalms can be compared to rest notes in musical notation. When we come to a selah, we should stop for a while; we should not hurry. It is not necessarily better to read many verses. We should stop and meditate. While we are meditating, we are turned to our inner being. Prior to this we were turned outward. But by pray-reading, read-praying, and meditating, we become an inward person. Previously, we were wandering and unfocused, but through pray-reading and meditating, we become focused. Our mind no longer wanders, and our unstable soul becomes calm.

This matter has much to do with our spiritual benefit. Many of us have wandering minds. Our minds are always wandering. It is difficult for us to be calm and to pray. Hence, it is difficult for us to live in fellowship with God or to live before His presence. When we read the Word by pray-reading and read-praying, we are saved from this condition. There is no need to pray too much or read too much. We simply need to read a little, pray a little, and meditate a little. However, we should not let our thoughts wander. We should meditate only on what we have read and prayed. Then our wandering mind will be rescued. We will no longer be inwardly confused, and our spirit will become strong. When we meditate in this way, there will be much prayer and intercession; we will receive burdens, guidance, and commissions from the Lord.

Interceding

This was the way Daniel read God’s Word. He understood the word of Jehovah to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the seventy years of Israel’s captivity. This produced a burden in him, and he turned the burden into prayer. His prayer was initiated by God’s Word. This corresponds to the Lord’s word in John 15:7: “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” We do not initiate the asking; it is initiated by God’s word. When the word that we read touches our inward being, it becomes a burden within us and directs us in our prayer. Such prayer is initiated by the Spirit, proceeds from God, and will be answered. In this prayer two prayers are combined into one; God prays in our praying, and our prayer matches His prayer. Thus, we are joined to God. In this prayer our spirit and the Spirit pray together; the human and divine natures are combined. This is genuine prayer. Since this prayer is initiated by God, God will accomplish it. Since His words have entered into us, His desire becomes our desire. Since He is the motive and source of this prayer and He is flowing through us, we can ask whatever we will, and it will be done. Our asking is according to God’s will because it is initiated by His Word.

Abraham was a man living in the presence of God. God visited him and fellowshipped with him, and he fellowshipped with God. When God was about to leave, Abraham walked with God for a distance to send Him off. While they were walking, God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Gen. 18:17). Abraham received this word. While he waited in God’s presence, he received a burden and prayed. This prayer was initiated by God, not Abraham. His prayer expressed and magnified God. This was a sweet experience.

Praying with Reading 
Issuing In Enjoying the Glory of God

This way of praying and reading is the mingling of God and man. This is glorious yet mysterious. The God of glory mingles Himself with us in our practical human living. He does this as the Spirit and the Word. The Spirit is in our spirit, and the Word is in our hand. The Spirit prays with our spirit and leads us to read and understand the Word. The Spirit within and the Word without correspond and mingle as one. The Word then enters into us and motivates us to pray. This prayer is the expression of the Word. In this way God works within us and is expressed through us. It seems as if man is working, but God is working. The issue of this reading, praying, and interceding is the enjoyment and digestion of God’s riches. We receive God’s will, His desire, and His eternal purpose, and we become a channel for His expression. Our intercession affords Him the way to accomplish His will on earth. It seems as if He is answering our prayer, but He is carrying out His will. The result is that man is blessed through the preaching of the gospel to save sinners, through the release of life to nourish the believers, and through the building up of the church. Such prayer makes us fruitful branches that glorify God. We enjoy God and are filled with Him. Hence, we express, magnify, and glorify Him. This is the issue of our eating and digesting God. God is mingled with us as one. He becomes our content, and we become His expression.

In this way God becomes everything we need. If we need patience, He is our patience. If we need light, He is our light. If we need power, He is our power. If we need humility, He is our humility. He is our magnanimity and circumspection. He is our power in the gospel and our eloquence. He is also wisdom for us to build up the church and love for us to shepherd His children.

He is our food. He is everything to us. In order to become our life, He is food to us as the Spirit and the Word. The Spirit is invisible and inside of us, and the Word is visible and outside of us. We exercise our spirit to touch God through praying and reading, reading and praying. We touch both the Word and the Spirit. The Word outside of us enters into us and is expressed through us. We pray, yet God prays. We live, yet God lives. This is what it means to eat, drink, and enjoy God. This is what it means to eat God as food and receive Him as our life. This is the mingling of God and man.

In such a living we have resurrection, the Spirit, the church, the Body of Christ, and coordination in service. The church is built, and we serve in the Body. We experience the authority of the kingdom and the throne of God. We have God’s image and His glory; we have the New Jerusalem. God is mingled with man. He becomes man’s content, and man becomes His expression. This is the issue of our reading and praying, praying and reading. This is the issue of our eating, drinking, absorbing, and enjoying God. May the Lord lead us into such a living through the riches of His glory.