This week completes thoughts on Job 19:28, 'But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found within me?'
We have been considering what might be signs that this 'root of the matter' is found within us - not just for the encouragement of those who wonder how they might know if they are a believer but also for the encouragement of those who have become christians and now sometimes have doubts if this was real.
So far we have identified seven signs:
Finally, today let us think about what the name of Jesus means to us.
I think I have mentioned before that my Pastor has often asked the question, 'Is Jesus precious to you?' as a sign that the Holy Spirit is working within us - that we have the 'root of the matter' within us.
Maybe you cannot state with confidence that Jesus is precious to you...but do you wish he were?
I hope you don't mind if I write of my experience here - I hope it will be a help to somebody although it is not to suggest that this will be your exact experience - as we noticed in part 3, the Lord works uniquely in each of us - but for me I first felt I loved the Father, feeling his care, his love and sovereignty and yet felt I didn't know Jesus. I had thoughts about following Jesus and read his words of being baptised and taking up my cross but I didn't feel I knew him to follow him.
On hearing or reading somebody say that we should only pray to God through Jesus I started praying to Jesus for all my needs, but felt I had lost the sense of my prayers being heard - I didn't feel a love towards him. A friend at the time directed me to the way the Lord Jesus taught us to pray...the first words being, 'Our Father...'.
That night as I joyfully prayed to my Father I felt as if I were coming home and then the words clearly came to me, 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life' (John 3:16). How lovely these words seemed! How they seemed to unite Jesus with God in my understanding!
From then on I began praying that Jesus would reveal himself to me, would make himself precious to me and that I would know him.
As I read my Bible and attended services I started hearing the invitations of Jesus calling us to come unto him, in particular noticing that he told us he came to save sinners - which qualified me to come! And on 7th September 2009 he answered these prayers in such a way that filled my heart with love to him.
Do you know these stirrings of affection - if only in the want of them - towards Jesus?
The wonder and beauty of this is that you only feel them because he is already loving you and calling you. John tells us, 'We love him, because he first loved us' (1 John 4:19).
Job - who had 'the root of the matter' in him - knew his redeemer lived as he said a few verses before the one we have been reflecting on, 'For I know that my redeemer liveth...whom I shall see for myself' (Job 19:25-27). No doubt, this knowledge was precious to him although he was so troubled by his circumstances - it was something he was clinging onto despite all the unkind words of his friends and feeling that he was near to death.
Dear reader, as we conclude these thoughts on having the 'root of the matter' within us, have you been able to relate to any of the signs outlined?
I always remember reading of Robert Murray M'Cheyne*, a young Scottish minister, who at a time when 'it was not yet common for persons in anxiety to go to their pastor for advice' started receiving almost weekly visits from people who were concerned about their souls and who had questions to ask.
I envied those people.
I wished I had the courage to go and speak of my thoughts and longings but didn't feel I had anything to speak of.
Do you feel like that?
Perhaps you have never told anyone of these thoughts, feelings, fears or joys, but I think how there are so many instances in the Bible when those who we realise had 'the root of the matter' in them came to other believers - or God brought believers to them to instruct them.
We have already previously mentioned Ananias being brought to Paul. Then there is the Philippian jailer who asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved; we have Cornelius the praying Centurion, who on God's instruction sent to the Apostle Peter to hear of things commanded by God; we have Philip the Apostle being sent to the Ethiopian eunuch who had a hunger for reading the scriptures but didn't understand them; we read of Nicodemus the Pharisee who believed that Jesus came from God, but visited Jesus secretly at night that he might ask him questions.
What joy it gives to ministers and Pastors to know that their ministry is being effective and their hearers are seeking after the truth.
Do you feel you have slipped out of the way from following Christ and have doubted whether you ever really had the 'root of the matter' in you?
Or, can you say you believe you have the signs that you are a christian but don't want to presume or wonder if it is enough?
May the Lord give you one to whom you could go to for spiritual counsel - one who will be given the needed wisdom and love as they speak and pray with you. You may find that the Lord has even been preparing their hearts for you to go and see them, laying you in their thoughts to be prayed about.
*The Life of Robert Murray M'Cheyne by Andrew A. Bonar
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