1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. 2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. 3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:1-3
For the next few days, I want to look at these verses more closely. I love the Proverbs and find no shortage of opportunity to speak of them within teaching and life application. If you did not already know, there are 31 of them and also 31 days in most months. The best way to read is one for the corresponding day (ex. read Proverbs 1 on the first day of the month and so on). For the next three days, I want to study these three verses.
Proverbs 21:1 speaks of the direction of our heart. It is important for our inner being to be teachable and take direction from God and His Scripture. Most of us have sticking points in our faith where we refuse to move. There are opinions, ideas, and politics that we bend and shape our theology to fit. God is asking us to give up the nonsense. When we allow the Lord to decide our views and shape our direction, we find ourselves on the right side of compassion and humility. No longer do our opinions matter. No longer are we “right”.
The idea of “the King’s heart” is significant here. While it is obvious that our leaders do not necessarily talk for or rule with God, it is important to realize that even he is not out of the realm of God’s sovereignty. Our Lord can move politicians in any way at any time and we pray He does.
As Christ – followers however, we have no such luxury to move as we wish. When Paul calls us “slaves” to Christ, he illustrated our role perfectly. We must continue to let ourselves die to preference in order than He may live clearly and effectively within us.
Today, ask Him to guide you within His hand and will. Ask for clarity in where you are stubborn. Pray to move toward God first.
Matt simon blog 