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PRAYER AND BIBLE STUDY A man cannot develop a proper understanding of the Bible without prayer. If you will read Ephesians chapter one, you will see that Paul had been praying for the Ephesian believers. Yet, he didn’t say that he had been praying for their health, their finances, or for any other physical thing. He had been praying for their wisdom and understanding in their knowledge of God. There’s nothing wrong with praying for physical and material things at times, but our main concern should be with spiritual things, and acquiring a good knowledge and understanding of the Bible is a spiritual thing. David prayed, “Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” (Psa. 119:34) One of my favorite passages on praying for understanding is Proverbs 2:1-5: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.” He said “if” you cry after it, seek it, and search for it, then you will find it. I once heard a story about a young Bible student and an older preacher. The young man kept asking Bible questions of the old preacher, but then never doing any follow-up by studying the subject matters in more detail. So he regularly commented on the older preacher’s wisdom and knowledge, and he stated regularly how he wished he could be that learned in the Scriptures. One day the old preacher led him down to a creek and out into the water. Suddenly, he grabbed the young man, shoved him under the water, and held him there for a while. Finally, he brought him up for air. After much coughing and gasping for air, the young man yelled, “What are you trying to do, kill me?!!!” “No,” replied the preacher, “just trying to teach you a lesson. You claim to want to learn the great truths of the Bible, yet you aren’t making much progress. Well, when you want truth as much as you just wanted air, that’s when you’ll find it.” Solomon received wisdom and understanding after he ASKED for it. He didn’t receive it automatically, and neither can we. We might accumulate certain Bible facts in our heads, but we will not gain the necessary wisdom to effectively use those facts without prayer. A balanced student is a praying student.