Feeding on the Word

“Thy words were found and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” — Jeb. xv. 16.

Here you have three things. The Finding of God’s word. This only comes to those who seek diligently for it. Then the Eating. This means the personal appropriation for our own sustenance, the taking up into our being the words of God. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ And then the Rejoicing, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” There we have the finding, and the appropriating, and the rejoicing. “Thy words Were Found, and I Did Eat them, and Thy word was the Joy and Rejoicing of my heart.”

Eating is here the central thought. It is preceded by the searching and finding: it is accompanied and followed by the rejoicing. It is the only aim and use of the one; it is the only cause no The Inner Chamber

and life of the other. In the secrecy of the inner chamber how much depends on this — I Did Eat them I

To realise the difference between this and the finding of God’s words, compare the corn a man may have stored in his granary, with the bread he has on his table. All the diligent labour he has bestowed in sowing and harvesting and garnering his grain, all the rich reward he has had for his care, cannot profit him, except as he feeds on the daily portion of the bread his body requires. In the finding, the harvesting, and garnering, the greater the quantity and the speedier the work — these were the things to be looked at. In the eating, the very opposite takes place — here it is the small quantity, and the slow and unceasing continuance, that characterises the appropriation. Do you see the application of this to your Scripture study in the morning watch? You need to Fiistd God’s words, and by careful thought to master them, so as to have them stored in mind and memory for your own use, and that of others. In this work there may often be great joy, the joy of harvest or of victory; the joy of treasure secured, or difficulties overcome; and yet we must remember this finding and possessing the words of God is not yet that eating of them which alone brings Divine life and strength to the soul.

The fact of being occupied with, and possessing good wholesome corn, will not nourish a man. The fact of being deeply interested in the knowledge of God’s word will not of itself nourish the soul. *’ Thy words were found “that was the first thing.” And I did eat them ‘’ — that brought the joy and rejoicing.

And what is this eating? The corn which the husbandman had grown and rejoiced in as his very own, could not nourish his life, until he took it up and ate it, and so completely assimilated it, that it became part of himself, entering into his blood, forming his very bone and flesh. This has to be done in a small quantity at a time, two or three times a day, every day of the year. This is the law of eating. It is not the amount of truth I gather from God’s word; it is not the interest or success of my Bible study; it is not the increased clearness of view or largeness of grasp I am obtaining, that secure the health and growth of the spiritual life. By no means. All this often leaves the nature very much unsanctified and unspiritual with very little of the holiness or humility of Christ Jesus: something else is needed. Jesus said: My Meat Is to Do the will of Him that sent me. Taking a small portion of God’s word, some definite command or duty of the new life, quietly receiving it into the will and the love of the heart, yielding the whole being to its rule, and vowing, in the power of the Lord Jesus, to perform it: this, and then Going to Do It this is eating the word, taking it so into our inmost being, that it becomes a constituent part of our very life. The same with a truth, or a promise; what you have eaten now becomes part of yourself, you carry it with you where you go as part of the life you live.

You see at once how the two points of difference between the corn in the granary and the bread on the table, cover all your Bible study. The gathering of Scripture knowledge is one thing. The eating of Gods word, the receiving it into your very heart by the power of the life-giving Spirit, is something very different. And you see how the two laws of eating the food, in contrast to those of finding it, must always be obeyed. You can gather and garner grain to last for years. You cannot swallow a large enough quantity of bread to last for days. Day by day, and more than once a day, you take your day’s food. And so the eating of God’s word must be in small portions, just as much as the soul can each time receive and digest. And this, day by day, from one end of the year to the other.

It is such feeding on the word which will enable me to say: “And Thy word was the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” George Muller says that he learned that he ought not to stop reading the Word until he felt happy in God: then he felt fit to go out to his day’s work.