Reading the Word Being to Receive 
the Lord’s Word as Food

Prayer is to breathe in the Lord’s Spirit, and reading is to receive the Lord as the Word. The Lord as the Word is our food. Man does not live by bread alone, because he is not composed of only a body; within man there is also a spirit. The physical body requires physical food, but man’s spirit requires a different type of food. Physical food is not enough to make man live. Hence, the Lord says that man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). All the words that proceed out through the mouth of God are man’s spiritual food. For this reason the prophet Jeremiah says, “Your words were found and I ate them” (Jer. 15:16).

Reading the Word with an Attitude 
of Eating and Drinking God

Our attitude should be that the Bible is our food. The Bible is a book of food. When we read the Bible, we should eat this food. Whenever we read the Word, we should have the attitude that we are coming to eat and drink God. If our motive is merely to study truths, analyze teachings, or understand doctrines, we are not eating and drinking God, and the Bible is a book of doctrines and teachings to us. We must have a change in concept to see that the Bible is not a book of God’s teaching or truth; it is God’s food for us.

I hope that we would thoughtfully receive this word. This does not mean that the Bible does not contain teachings and truths. The Bible is full of teachings and truths. However, when we receive this book merely as a book of teachings and truths, and we attempt to study it only with our mind, we are but a student of truths and a learner of teachings. The Bible will merely be teachings and truths to us; it will not be life and food to us. But if our view changes, and we consider the Bible to be God’s expression and His breathing out, the Bible will be a different book to us. We will realize that since God is food to man, the Bible as His breathed-out word must also be food to man. When we come to the Bible, we must eat and drink God as our food; we must breathe in God Himself and enjoy Him. If we read the Bible this way, it will no longer be a book of teachings, commandments, truths, or doctrines. Instead, it will be God’s embodiment, unveiling, expression, and exhaling. It will also be our rich food. We will receive nourishment, supply, and life from every word.

Not Studying but Eating and Drinking

Brothers and sisters, this brings us back to the matter of our person. A person who studies the Bible, seeks after teachings and commandments, investigates truths, and searches doctrines may be better than those who do not read the Bible, but he can only be second best. Second best can often be an enemy to the best. This kind of reading can either damage a person or frustrate him from touching the Lord. Many brothers and sisters often read the Bible but seldom touch God, because they are not persons who seek after God. When they read the Bible, they do not absorb God, and they do not eat and drink Him. They are students of the Bible, seekers of truths, who want to find out the logic, commandments, and precepts of God. Because they are such persons, they find the Bible to be the kind of Bible they choose to hold.

There is a heavy burden within me that God’s children would realize that different kinds of Bibles and different kinds of readings of the Bible are due to the differences in our person. Strictly speaking, there are not different Bibles. The same Bible is considered different because the people reading it are different. When a person is not proper, not eating and drinking God, the Bible in his hand becomes something improper. Instead of being a person who absorbs God, he is a person who studies doctrines.

Whenever we come to the Word, we must be strict to not research doctrines. Rather, we must eat and drink God; we must absorb Him. Some brothers and sisters may still not know the difference between researching doctrines and absorbing God. There are two ways to read the Bible. The first is the common, natural way of researching or studying. Everyone comes to the Bible with a heart to study it. But we can never fully understand the Bible even if we exhaust the mind of all the scholars. The Bible can never be exhausted in this way. We should not despise this little book. I have been reading this book almost every day for the past thirty-four years. I have spent much time studying it. Eventually, I had to confess that there is no way to fully know it. The more one studies this book, the more difficult it becomes, and the more confused he becomes.

For example, Matthew 1 is a huge obstacle to every student of the Bible. This chapter on the genealogy of Jesus is a high mountain, a big puzzle. Verse 1 says, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Who is David and who is Abraham? What do the names Jesus and Christ mean? Verse 2 says that Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Who is Isaac? Who is Jacob? Who is Judah? And who are his brothers? In verse 3 Judah begot children of Tamar. Who is Tamar? Following this, there are over forty names. The first seventeen verses of this chapter are impossible to study. Even after three months of studying, we will not be clear. On the contrary, we may end up with a headache, an ulcer, or we may lose our spiritual health. Many brothers and sisters are in this condition. The more they read, the hungrier they become. The more they study, the emptier and drier they are in their spirit. This is the result of merely studying the Bible.

Let us drop all these efforts. There is no need to exert much effort. I have suffered enough already; there is no need for you to suffer more. A “chicken” has been placed before us, but we insist on picking the “bones” and studying them even though they have no nutritional value. The more we study in this way, the hungrier we become. A chicken is for us to eat; it is not for us to study. A wise man will not study the mineral content of the bones; he will simply feast on the meat. He does not try to eat the whole chicken; he simply eats until he is full.

Although this may seem peculiar, many people read their Bible in this way and therefore do not derive any benefit. They study the “bone” of the word Abraham or the “beak” of the word Tamar. We need to let go of these things. We are here to eat the flesh of the “chicken,” not the “bones.” When reading the first seventeen verses of Matthew 1, we should let go of the many names. But when we read verse 21, which says, “She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins,” we may understand that we are God’s people, so He must save us from our sins. We may then pray, “Lord, save me from my sins.” After this the Holy Spirit may speak to us and point out our sins of hitting our children and scolding our wife for many years and that our temper is too poor. Spontaneously, we should confess these sins, saying, “Lord, my temper is too poor. I cannot overcome it. I have been in sin. But You are Jesus. You will save Your people from their sins. I am Your people. Surely You will save me from my sins.” When we pray this way, we are eating the “meat.” Following this, we may read: “‘They shall call His name Emmanuel’ (which is translated, God with us)” (v. 23). Here is a bigger piece of “meat.” We may pray, “Emmanuel! God with man! Lord, You are God with man! You are God, and I am man; You are with me. You are in me, and You are in my presence.” These verses alone can fill us. During the day we will be praying that Jesus is saving His people from their sins and that God is with man. This kind of reading will make the Bible our food, supply, and nourishment. This kind of reading will bring the Bible into us as our life.

We are now clear that reading the Word is not for studying, in the same way that eating chicken is not the same as studying the chicken. Zoologists and biologists study the chicken. They spend all their lives studying, but still they may not understand everything about a chicken. We are not “zoologists” or “biologists” of the Word; we are not here to study but to eat. We do not read the Word in order to study it. Let the theologians study theology. Let the students of the Bible study the Bible. We are here to eat and drink God. We are the eaters, and we want to feast on the Word until we are filled.

In conclusion, God is Spirit for us to breathe Him in through prayer, and God is the Word for us to eat Him through reading the Word. The more we pray, the more we breathe in His Spirit, and the more we read, the more we eat His word. The Spirit is God, and the Word is also God. When we breathe and eat enough of God, we will be filled and satisfied with God. This is what it means to enjoy God through praying and reading.