A King’s Heart Is Like A River
Have you ever witnessed a leader, whether it was a church leader, government leader, or a leader in the secular world, make a decision that you knew was totally out of character? You knew they stood for one thing but out of the blue, they made a decision that worked in your favor or in the favor of humanity in general. Well, that’s the interpretation behind our scripture text for today.
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
Take King Pharaoh for example. His heart was hardened against God and the Children of Israel; for He exclaimed, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2) But God heard the cry of His people and hearkened to their voice. As a result, Egypt found themselves experiencing one plague after another. However, God, in His sovereignty, through each occurrence, showed forth His miraculous power and proved that in the midst of mayhem, He is the one in control. When the time was right, Pharaoh’s heart turned towards God’s people. At that moment, He released them from their bondage and let the Israelites go. But soon after, like the Prodigal’s Son, Pharaoh came to himself and said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” (Exodus 14:5) There was a hot pursuit ending with Pharaoh and his army victims to the Red Sea. Interweaved throughout the first fourteen chapters of Exodus, we find God turning the heart of a king. One who thought he was in control only to find out, he was not. Because in the finale, God got just what He wanted – freedom for His people.
As it was with Pharaoh, so it is with us. God not only helps us guard our hearts but He also turns our hearts. He directs them to accomplish His good and perfect will. Have you ever done something that worked for the good, but your initial thought was, “Why did I do that?” Well, that was God directing your heart, turning your heart for His specific plan, and His eternal glory.
We have to come to the complete realization that God knows the plans He has for us. Plans to prosper us and not to harm us; plans to give us hope and an expected end. We often decree this and we declare it. Then we quote this passage of scripture over and over, whenever the opportune time arises. But the question is, have we engraved it in our hearts so that when we reach a crossroad, we trust God and move in the direction, in which He guides us?
God told Isaiah, “… My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways; For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” The keyword here is ways. As far as we can see, across the deep blue sea, the conception of what God is doing goes beyond our comprehension.
If our hearts are in tune with God’s heart then when He says, turn left; we’ll automatically turn left. If he says, turn right, without hesitation, we’ll turn right. And if He happens to say, “Be still and know that I am God”, we’ll take our place of rest in Him and be still. In other words, we become puppets to the puppeteer. In the same manner that the puppeteer works the strings of the puppet, in order to make it move, God orchestrates our heartstrings and we become synchronized swimmers moving to the rhythm of heaven’s beat.
So, when you feel the current of the river changing, don’t try to swim upstream. Just know that it is God redirecting the course of your path. Who knows? Only He knows. Niagara Falls could be just ahead.
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