IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING THE WORD OF GOD
By Lenna Iselin
MRS. LENNA ISELIN
(Spring Bluff, Wis.) The psalmist says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart [mind], that I might not sin against thee.” Thus we see that it is the word of God stored away, or hidden, in the mind that keeps us from sinning. But how can we have the Word hidden in our minds unless we study it? Jesus, speaking of the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, said: He shall “bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Now it is impossible for the Comforter to bring things to our remembrance which we have never known. He does not attempt to do so; for Jesus says, “Whatsoever I have said unto you.” The whole Bible is Jesus speaking to us through His servants the prophets; so we see that we must carefully study the Word, and the Holy Spirit will enable us to remember it. We are to eat the Word; it is the bread of life. Just as our natural food builds up the body, so the Word, which is our spiritual food, builds up the character. We could not live on one small meal a week, yet how many give the Sabbath-school lesson a hurried study on Sabbath morning, not having taken time to open the Bible during the week. Can we expect to live the life that Christ lived, and build up a character that will stand the test of the Judgment, by such a careless manner of living? The Word, hidden in our minds, has power to keep us from sinning. There is creative power in the Word: “The worlds were framed by the word of God.” “He spake, and it was done; He245commanded, and it stood fast.” Thus the Word has power to create us anew in Christ Jesus, “being born again, . . . by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” Then how important is the study of the Word. Unless we treasure it up in our minds, there is no life in us. Jesus says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” There is no excuse for ignorance concerning the word of God. We all have our Bibles, and nearly every one has education enough to read it for himself. We have blessed opportunities now, for which we must give an account before God—opportunities which we shall not have in the future. The time is not far distant when our Bibles will be taken from us; for in Amos we read that there shall be “a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” Now while we have the Word with us, let us give it a daily study. We might better neglect some of the trifling duties of the day than to neglect our eternal salvation. Let us economize our time, spending less with fancy work and outward adornment, and more in studying the Word of life, which is a light that shines in a dark place—“a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”