---
title: 'Plumer: Pray and Read!'
type: post
author: 'R. Andrew Myers'
date: 2025-01-27
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2025-plumer-pray-and-read
---

# Plumer: Pray and Read!

“As man’s intellectual dependence on God is absolute, nothing is more proper in every student of the Bible than hearty prayer. A prayerless student of God’s word never attained the wisdom of the just, never became wise unto salvation, never became mighty in the Scriptures. On the other hand, he who never opened the sacred volume but with earnest crying to God for divine illumination, never died a fool.

No act that man can perform is more reasonable than offering such petitions as these: ‘Teach me thy statutes;’ ‘Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law;’ ‘Give me understanding;’ ‘Incline my heart unto thy testimonies.’ If man ever needs help from on high, it is when endeavouring to learn the will of God for his own salvation.” — [**William S. Plumer**](/authors/william-swan-plumer), *How to Use the Bible*