My Dear Friend,

Sometimes in our zeal to discover more new, details about biblical events, authors, languages, cultures, and contexts, we overlook the real core, or essence, of Bible study. 1 Samuel 3 will help refocus us on the real reason we should study our Bible.

As 1 Samuel 3 begins, we find young Samuel, chosen by God to be Israel's next prophet, hearing God's voice for the first time. God supernaturally opened Samuel's internal prophetic ears as he was laying down to sleep. Then God called for him to listen: "Samuel" (1 Samuel 3:4). Thinking his mentor, the priest, Eli, had called, Samuel went to Eli. This scenario was repeated two more times. Then Eli, an established prophet, realized what had happened. Though Samuel was just a child, God had sovereignly called him to the prophetic ministry: "Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child" (1 Samuel 3:8).

Eli then showed him how to pray: "If he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth" (1 Samuel 3:9). Samuel obediently followed his mentor's counsel. Noting this, God immediately came near, stood, and spoke to Samuel again, beginning what would become a long, fruitful, and amazingly accurate prophetic ministry.

But his prophetic career began strangely. God immediately tested Samuel. He was to prove his obedience by faithfully delivering his first prophetic message to Eli. And it was no pleasant message! He had to tell his own mentor that he and his sons would be punished for disobeying and dishonoring God! We would expect a child to balk at such a man-sized mission. But not Samuel.

Though just a lad, he courageously delivered the entire message of impending judgment to Eli without omitting a word. For this faithfulness in ministry God rewarded Samuel with a larger ministry, giving him nationwide recognition and honor as God's up-and-coming prophet: "And all Israel . . . knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord" (1 Samuel 3:19-20).

Samuel quickly developed a method of sharpening his inner hearing: he immersed himself in God's voice - the Word of God divinely spoken, and thus fully activated to address specific, timely, situational needs. By staying full of God's Word, Samuel's spiritual hearing became increasingly sharper, stronger, and more accurate. As a result, whenever he spoke for God, he delivered spiritually rich, dynamically powerful messages to God's people. His words were thought-provoking, heart-piercing, memory-gripping, and life-changing. Those who heard them were never again the same!

To further enrich and prosper this radical, deep, prophetic preparation, "The Lord appeared again [to Samuel] in Shiloh," as He had during Samuel's first visitation (1 Samuel 3:21). And these personal visitations continued. Day after day, God came, God spoke, and Samuel immersed himself in the examination of what He said - pondering, thinking through, believing, receiving, applying.

This continuing class of instructing in the divine Word became a school, Samuel's divine Bible school or seminary. God the Father was the Headmaster, Christ the professor, and the Holy Spirit the Tutor. Day after day, week after week, month after month school was in session and Samuel in training. Abundantly enriched by this steady, supernatural flow of potent divine thought, Samuel began passing on God's messages to God's people: "And the word of Samuel came to all Israel" (1 Samuel 2:1). As time passed, Samuel's delivery of the divine Logos became increasingly regular. Accurate. Proven. Dependable. Famous.

The people, consistently stimulated and encouraged by Samuel's life-giving words, soon recognized the evident divine inspiration behind his messages. They also noted their consistent, accurate fulfillments. Soon they listened to his prophecies with great excitement. Samuel had their undivided attention: "The Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground," or remain unheeded by the people, or unfulfilled (1 Samuel 3:19). It soon became common knowledge all over Israel that "All that he saith cometh surely to pass" (1 Samuel 9:6). The people became accustomed to the new pattern: Samuel spoke. The people listened. Fulfillments followed. God was honored!

But there was something the people did not yet know. They were still in the dark as to the secret of it all. How did Samuel receive his unique messages? Why were they so accurate? Why did their fulfillments never fail? Why did they impart such potent inspiration and clear guidance time after time? What did Samuel pray for and focus on during his long, extended periods of waiting on God, immersed in His Word?

The Scriptures give us the great secret of Samuel's revelatory Bible study: "The Lord revealed himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord" (1 Samuel 3:21). At the time, the limited books of Scripture (the Torah) were not widely available for personal study. So, while Samuel surely had some access to the Torah scrolls, his "word of the Lord" was primarily the prophetic word. God was quietly but clearly speaking to the prophet's heart, as He had done with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses.

And the focus of God's instruction, and Samuel's listening, was "Himself"! His Word revealed not merely laws, codes, doctrines, and creeds but also, and most importantly, Himself - who God is, what His nature or character is like, what He thinks, how He feels, how He operates, what His values are, what He loves and hates, what His goals are, what His plan is to reach those goals, where He stands on various issues, and so forth. This should not surprise us.

Jesus is the central theme unifying the entire Bible, Old Testament and New. From Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, each book of the Bible, in its texts, characters, events, and symbolism, reveals something additional and unique about the Son of God. They tell us of His identity, His mission, His love, His cross, His works, His message, His Advents, His kingdom, His compassion, His judgments, and His brilliant, sun-like glory. Thus the written Word bears testimony of the Living Word.

It was the same with the Spoken Word. Every time Samuel listened to God's voice, and then delivered another "word of the Lord," it, too, pointed to some aspect of Christ. Every message redirected the people to the great Source of their life and salvation.

So, in Samuel's "Bible study," the very young but remarkably wise prophet kept Jesus at the center. Every day. Every "class." And as he did so, his divine Teacher, and Tutor, kept pouring in not just more interesting information about what the Philistines, Egyptians, and Assyrians were doing, or about the Jews' national problems, but more inspired information about the Lord.

As Samuel pondered the Word of the Lord daily, the Lord of the Word disclosed new, amazing wonders of the divine One: the Lord's heart; the pillars of His character (holiness, love, righteousness, faithfulness); His redemptive will for His people, and the world; His plan for achieving that will; His ways of operation, or divine M.O.; His irresistible, omnipotent power; the unfathomable depths of His love; the inexhaustible river of His wisdom; the fixed, perfect judgments of His mind on moral issues; His amazing grace and tender mercy; the worship He seeks in spirit and truth; and many other things that angels wondered at as they (surely) secretly observed Samuel's private Bible study sessions. What is my point?

Simply this: tragically, we can study our Bibles all our lives and never come to know its Author. Truly. Deeply. Intimately. Joyously. To avoid that unparalleled tragedy, we must first be born again and receive the Holy Spirit, who alone illuminates God's Word. Then we must examine our motives.

So, I ask, why do you study your Bible? Just to check off another biblical book you have read? To be able to rattle off scripture quotes one after the other? To be as Bible-savvy as your mentor, or pastor, or favorite Bible teacher? To be able to intelligently debate theological positions? To discover more proof texts that confirm your pet doctrine or preferred systematic theology? To complete yet another Bible survey course or earn yet another degree in biblical studies?

Or perhaps you are aimless. You don't really know why you study the Bible. You do so because your pastor said you should. So, you sit in on church or home Bible studies, dutifully but dryly searching for you know not what. Here is some advice.

Learn Samuel's great secret and live it! Study - prayerfully, worshipfully, quietly, secretly, harboring no sin - for no greater purpose than to have the Lord "reveal Himself" to you, as He did to Samuel long ago. Why? He wants to reveal Himself to you! He yearns to show you who He is, what He desires, how you may please Him, and in what ways and with what gifts you may serve Him. He's waiting now. In the quiet. In the secret place. In the room in your home you have appointed for prayerful Bible study. So, go to Him now and begin receiving at His feet what He has laid up for your heart.

Begin by getting alone with God and your Bible. Ignore all interruptions except genuine emergencies. Offer heartfelt thanksgiving and praise. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your study. Examine the Bible passage before you patiently and thoughtfully. Run your chain references. Consult annotations. Examine key words in original language dictionaries and lexicons to discover hidden shades of meaning. Above all, as you patiently mine your Bible, note and ponder every truth you discover about Christ, His nature, His will, and His ways. “Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord [ESV] . . . delighting in the Lord’s perfections [NLT]” (Psalm 27:4). Give special attention to the four Gospels since they offer a special revelation of Jesus' person, thoughts, and acts from four perspectives.

As you do so, pray Samuel's inspired prayer with your whole heart: "Speak, for thy servant heareth" (1 Samuel 3:10). Then watch in wonder, as the Holy Spirit shows you more and more, every day, in every study session, the amazing, indescribable glories of the richest asset ever gained by human beings: intimate knowledge of Jesus!

This is the way - Samuel's proven way - to rich, inspiring, revelatory Bible study.

Praying Samuel's prayer,

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES