Last week we shared thoughts arising from Job 19:28, 'But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found within me?'
We started looking for signs that we have the 'root of the matter' within us, firstly considering prayer.
Today we continue, secondly noticing that as touched on when talking of prayer, those who have 'the root of the matter' in them are not satisfied with just what they can get out of this life.
This may manifest with you wanting something - something which you can't find. Maybe you don't even know what it is! You just know that you at times feel restless - unsatisfied. Perhaps you can get immersed in your work and your daily life for a while, but then this feeling of, 'Surely there is more to life than this!' comes back...as if you are missing out on something or you need something deep within you.
As the Spirit works within you he unsettles you - you cannot be a child of God and be happy to live and die satisfied with this life - you need to be unsettled or stirred up so that you will be looking for something more - something which will never die.
I once read that people may try to satisfy this emptiness by turning to philanthropy - volunteering and helping people worse off than themselves.
Or perhaps you feel you just have to have such and such and then you will be truly happy...that new car, that new job, that house, that marriage, that baby...
If these things are enough or our thoughts never turn heavenward in prayer to God for the one thing that will truly satisfy then we do not have the 'root of the matter' within us.
To the child of God, Jesus is like spiritual food and drink - the one thing that will satisfy.
The prophet Jeremiah said, 'Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts' (Jeremiah 15:16).
And in Psalm 107:8&9 we read, 'O that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness'.
I remember how after coming to know the Lord I felt complete, like something inside me which had been missing and empty was filled - made whole.
I also distinctly remember on the day of my baptising thinking that the face of one of my relatives was expressing that same unsatisfied longing that I had so recently known - that feeling of wanting what the Lord's people have got. (These thoughts were confirmed when talking with them a few days later).
Perhaps this unsatisfied longing is something you have noticed in yourself?
And even after coming to know the Lord, there can be times when you get totally immersed in a project of some nature but after a while you have to come back to the Lord to be completely fulfilled - the project, however important, wonderful or special has something missing.
Thirdly, this leads me on to a further sign that the root of the matter has started in your heart: a drawing towards the Lord's people. You may find that you want to hear their conversation on spiritual things. Perhaps you cannot contribute anything - you wish that you could. And perhaps you feel an affection for the people of God.
1 John 3:14 says, 'We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death'.
An old hymnwriter in speaking of the place of worship and the Lord's people said, 'There my best friends, my kindred dwell'.*
In contrast I am reminded of a dream I once read about.** From what I recall a lady who had rejected religion - who clearly did not have 'the root of the matter' in her - had a vivid dream which she recounted to her sisters who loved the Lord.
In the dream she was taken to a beautiful place which sounded like heaven. She was surrounded by shining people full of happiness who were all walking towards the source of their light, love and happiness, but she shrank from it.
She recoiled from it. She didn't want it. She didn't want to be with them.
Her sisters were struck with the solemnity of what she was telling them. Within a very short time she died, and they had no hope of her being in glory.
A fourth sign is what the Lord Jesus said, 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me' (John 10:27). Perhaps you sadly say, 'I have never heard his voice, so he doesn't love me'.
Dear reader, whilst I do not want to give false hope and assurance, perhaps you may have heard the Lord's voice but you haven't realised.
We think of Samuel when he was a boy - when he first heard God calling his name he went running to the older prophet Eli thinking he had called him.
We read, 'Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him' (1 Samuel 3:7). Eli eventually recognised that it was God calling Samuel and advised him how to answer.
We are not all privileged to hear the audible voice of the Lord, although many of the Lord's people can recount hearing his voice even if just once or twice in their lifetime. He seems to speak more usually with a still small voice which whispers into our heart - or impresses a Bible verse to us as we read it, or by bringing it into our minds.
When I was in my early 20s several of my friends were baptised professing that they believed Jesus was their Saviour. At that time I was praying to know the Lord as my Saviour and after one phonecall sharing with me their good news of being baptised I went to bed crying and praying, 'Don't leave me out, Lord, don't leave me out!'.
I have never forgotten it because such a wonderful calm came over me reassuring and comforting me as if I was being told, 'Your time will come' and I just turned over in the bed and went to sleep.
It was only on hearing the Lord's still voice and experiencing deep, deep peace about 10 years later, that I recognised that at this earlier occasion and at one other time, I had been hearing the Spirit's voice but not known.
Perhaps you too have heard the still voice of the Lord in the little touches of peace, comfort or love that he has breathed into your soul at times?
Maybe it has been through a Bible verse or sermon that you have read/heard and which has so impressed itself on you that it has never left your memory - as Romans 10:17 tells us (in speaking of preaching), 'faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God'.
We may doubt whether we have really heard the Lord's voice, but what has the effect been on you?
Can you cast it out of your mind as total imagination?
Can you totally forget it?
Or is it a precious memory for you?
To be continued
*Isaac Watts 'How did my heart rejoice to hear'
**This was published in the Friendly Companion within the last 10 years I believe - if anybody remembers it better I would love to know.
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