The hour calls for a ministry that reads widely and studies deeply. We should be conversant with the facts of history, ancient and modern, and with recent developments in all branches of science and current thought. Such up-to-date knowledge will help to make our sermons and lectures fresh and interesting, and will keep us from mental stagnation. It will help us to repeat the old, old gospel again and again, but always from a new angle, or with a new setting, or with additional evidence that it is eternally true and powerful. It will help us to present the message of Christ as something that is needed by modern man, and that will satisfy the longing of human hearts in 1932 just as completely as it satisfied the hearts of people years ago.
The Reading Course aims to be not only a helper in the selection of helpful reading matter, but also a mental stimulant. It is to be strongly encouraged. But we ministers need to do more than mere reading. We must study, so that the crisis of the testing hour shall find us prepared. The apostle Paul admonishes us to be "rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith," and, further, he urges us to "continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel." Col. 2:7; 1:23.
The waters that come from the throne of grace through the minister, as a spokesman for God, should be living waters. It does not do us much good merely to repeat what others have stated in the way of Biblical truth. These truths must become our own spiritual and mental property if we are to be "stablished," "rooted," "grounded," and "settled." We must not be content with merely reading a statement: we should do all we can to verify it, to master it. We must endeavor to know for ourselves. To let others do the studying, while we are satisfied with the results of their work, is a very unsafe and unsound foundation for the "hope that is within us."
If we train ourselves to read widely and wisely,—to weigh, study, and apply,—such training will be a great help in our Bible study. There are many statements and expressions in the Book of books which superficial readers pass by. If, however, these were thoughtfully contemplated, they would prove enticements to delving into the word. The command of Jesus to the disciples on Galilee, "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught," may be fittingly applied to our study of the Scriptures.
Sister White continually emphasized the importance of personal Bible study. In "The Great Controversy," pages 593-595, she says:
"'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.' The people of God are directed to the Scriptures as their safeguard against the influence of false teachers and the delusive power of spirits of darkness. Satan employs every possible device to prevent men from obtaining a knowledge of the Bible; for its plain utterances reveal his deceptions. . . .
"None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To every soul will come the searching test, Shall I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God's immutable word? ...
"The multitudes do not want Bible truth, because it interferes with the desires of the sinful, world-loving heart; and Satan supplies the deceptions which they love. But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines, and the basis of all reforms."
If we do not merely read the Bible but really study it, we shall form the habit of observing every word. Once this habit is formed, how much food for thought it provides! how much inspiration! by opening before one's eyes new beauties. Think, for instance, of psalm 23. The first three verses speak of the Lord in the third person. In the fourth verse, when David is in the valley of the shadow of death, he changes from the third to the second person. Not, "He is with me," but, "Thou art with me." What a picture of drawing close to the Lord! What a theme for a sermon! And yet, merely a change from "He" to "Thou."
These principles of deeper study and wider reading should be taken to heart by all our ministers, those in departmental as well as general work. Take the Sabbath school for example. The primary object of the Sabbath school is not to provide perfect records, but to give our people a deeper knowledge of the Bible. The Sabbath school should not merely be a place for the review of what has been studied on six days of the week. Some may not have learned the lesson in spite of the good admonitions to do so. The Sabbath school should ever put the Bible in the pre-eminent place, and make its study the -outstanding—feature.
Deeper study, wider reading! How far-reaching would be their effects in all our work, if combined with complete consecration and earnest prayer. What reviving would come to the soul of the minister, and to his congregation, as through closer study and more reverent attention, the precious hidden things of the Scriptures were revealed to him and passed on to the people. What solemnity would be given to life, what earnestness, what zeal, if the events taking place in the world around us were more carefully studied in the light of the prophetic word!
Washington, D. C.
