The Word is for cleansing as well as for instruction, and if it keeps going through you it will have a marvelous effect upon your mind and heart and life. It will cleanse and purify you and fit you to be a real worker for the Lord Jesus Christ.
You remember the story of the Scotch laddie who was one of those persnickety youngsters who always wanted a reason for everything he was told to do. He was working for a farmer and when the old man told him to do anything, the lad generally asked, “Why?” This disturbed his employer.
On one occasion he said to the boy as he handed him a market basket, “Take this basket down to the creek and fill it with water.” When the laddie asked, “Why?” and started to explain that it would not hold water, the old man replied, “None o’ yer ‘whys.’ I’m paying for your time; you do as I tell you.”
So the boy started for the creek with the basket in his hand. Wading into the water, he dipped the basket into the creek and lifted it up. Of course, the water all ran out.
Disgusted, he said, “It will no’ hold the water.”
The old farmer replied, “Fill it up again.”
Again the lad obeyed, and once more the water all ran through.
His master said, “Fill it again.”
This time the boy answered, “I’ll fill it up once more, but if it does no’ hold this time, you will no make me a fool again.”
So he dipped it into the creek the third time, but as he held it up, the water all ran out. Angry, he flung the basket over into the grass, saying, “Take your auld kreel; no be a fool fer ye or anybody else.”
The old man picked it up good naturedly and then held it between him and the sun. As he examined it carefully, he explained, “It’s a guid deal cleaner than it was, and that’s what it needed.” The water running through it had cleansed away the dirt, and this is how the Word of God affects our lives.
Our Lord Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth.” We are sanctified by the washing of the water by the Word. We cannot give too much time to the study of this blessed Book. I do not mean merely studying it in order to get sermons out of it, but what we need is a daily, thoughtful, prayerful study of the Word for the nourishment of our own souls, for building ourselves up in our most holy faith.