EXCERPTS FROM THE MINISTRY

c) Its Principle—to Be Dependent

The principle of the tree of life is dependence. Perhaps many of you are not clear about this principle of dependence. Allow me to use the illustration of graduation. Nearly everyone reading this message has graduated from some kind of school, either elementary school, high school, college, or university. Although we may graduate from such schools, we can never graduate from a restaurant. We may graduate from studying, but we should never graduate from eating. Furthermore, we cannot graduate from drinking water or from breathing air. I encourage you to study well and to graduate from school as soon as possible. However, I would never encourage you to graduate from breathing, for if you do that you will die. What is the meaning of this? It means that knowledge creates independence and that life demands dependence. Obtaining a certain body of knowledge permits us to graduate and to act independently. For example, I may not know how to cook. After studying the art of cooking under an expert chef, I will eventually become knowledgeable, independent, and able to cook without the aid of my instructor. However, in the things pertaining to life we can never be independent. We are dependent upon life constantly. I have been breathing since the day I was born, and I continue to breathe twenty-four hours a day. I have never graduated from breathing. I can never be independent of breathing and stay alive. I should not say, "I have practiced enough breathing. Now I am an expert. I can teach you to breathe, but I don't need to breathe myself." Regardless how old we are, we remain dependent upon breathing because breathing is a matter of life.

When God called Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees, He did not give him a map. God did not say, "Abraham, here is a map for your journey. I want to bring you out of Ur of the Chaldees and into the good land. This map is very clear. If you follow every turn accurately, you will arrive at your destination." God simply told Abraham to leave his country, kinsmen, and father's house. God did not tell Abraham where he should go. Why did God deal with Abraham in this way? God led him in this manner because, prior to the call of Abraham, the human race had fallen far away from God. Man had forsaken the presence of God and was living absolutely according to knowledge, not according to God as life. God intervened to call Abraham out of that situation and bring him back to Himself. God did not give Abraham a map or directions, because His intention was that Abraham had to live and move continually in His presence. God's presence was the map. God's presence was the direction, the leading, and the guidance. If Abraham had asked God, "Lord, tell me where I should go tomorrow," He would have replied, "My child, sleep well and be at peace. Do not be troubled. Tomorrow I will be your guidance. I will be your living map."

No automobile driver likes a back-seat driver. However, if you are the driver of a heavenly automobile, you need a co-driver. If you have the living God as your co-driver, you will not need a map. He will be your living map and your living guide. Actually, you will even cease being the driver and let Him drive. You may sit near Him and enjoy His driving saying, "Why must I labor and take care of all the turns? Lord Jesus, You do it. Lord, You drive in my place. Let me simply enjoy Your driving." This is what it means to be dependent on life.

Suppose, on the contrary, that I learn every doctrine, every book of the Bible, and compose hundreds of messages to supply me for a whole lifetime of ministry. If I were such a person, I could only give you the tree of knowledge. Knowledge does not require our dependence. Once you have acquired knowledge, recording it in your memory or in your notebooks, you may stay far away from the Lord's presence and still work for Him. When you have knowledge, you do not need to depend on the Lord Jesus. The Lord could be in the third heavens and you in a remote region of the earth and you could still conduct your ministry.

The way of life is absolutely different from this. Many times I have been burdened about what I should speak in a forthcoming meeting. For example, once I prayed the entire afternoon and evening saying, "Lord, give me a word. O Lord, what is Your burden?" Although I had a burden, I had no clear guidance relating to the content of the burden. I had to speak that night. As I entered the meeting hall, I had no word. As the congregation was singing and praying, I was burdened, but still had no word. I continued to pray, "Lord, what is Your burden? What is Your message? O Lord, what do You want me to say?" Although it was time for me to deliver the message, I still did not know what to speak. I stepped up to the platform and said, "Let us open the Bible..." Even at that very moment I did not know what book. Then I said, "...and read the book of Genesis," although I did not know what chapter. Then I said, "Chapter three," yet I did not know which verse. Only then was I clear to begin a message on Genesis 3:15, which says that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. A living message came forth. From the beginning to the end I was dependent. I had no knowledge. All I could do was depend upon the living Lord. This is the principle of the tree of life.

We may apply this principle to the teaching about marriage in Ephesians 5. All Christian wives know the verse in Ephesians 5 which tells them to submit to their own husbands. All Christian husbands know the verse which tells them to love their wives. Nevertheless, wives and husbands fail to fulfill the requirements of these verses because they take Ephesians 5 as the tree of knowledge, not as the tree of life. Husbands and wives, you should not live according to the tree of knowledge. You must live by the tree of life. As a wife you should say, "Lord, I don't know how to submit to my husband. Lord, even if I do know, I cannot do it. I will forget about it, Lord. I won't use my effort or energy to fulfill this requirement. Lord Jesus, I simply stay in Your presence. I want to abide in You and enjoy You twenty-four hours a day." If you do this, submission spontaneously will flow out of your inner being. It will be the overflow of your enjoyment of Christ as your inner life. This is dependence on the tree of life.

What is the principle of the tree of life? Its principle is dependence. We all must be dependent. Do not take the way of knowledge, for the result of that way is death.