The root of the righteous

This is the second book in the series, the first being the well know pursuit of God, which I read a few months ago. What has been helpful is these books are short snippets of Tozers work which are profound and rooted in Gospel truths. They are relatively easy to read however I recommend not too many chapters in one go otherwise you may find it difficult to process.

The book begins quoting from proverbs 12:12, 'the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit'. The are a number of books in the Bible where trees and roots are found to describe. For example the apostle Paul envises a Christian as a tree to be well rooted and as a temple to rise on a solid foundation;

"Rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17)

"Rooted and built up in him" (Colossians 2:7).

In chapter 32 Tozer discusses 'Narrow Mansions' which is a commonly associated prayer with the great Augustine- bishop if Hippo. At the beginning of Augustines famous devotional work 'Confessions', he says, "narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge it, that mayest enter in".

On the surface this seems quite an egotistic thing to say.Not so, Augustines vision of God was so big that his own capacity to receive it seemed to him very restricted. And when Augustine looked at his own heart, as many of us would, he saw narrowness and constriction.

Keep me rooted, grounded in firm foundations and enlarge the mansion of my soul!