Reading Proverbs – 21:1 We are as Water

August 21st, 2009 by Steve

The King’s heart is under the Lord’s hand; like runnels of water, He turns it wherever He will.– Prov 21:1

Yesterday we read about how the Lord guides a person’s spirit through life as a lamp guides someone in darkness. This verse expands on it, by noting that He guides kings as well as peasants – politics and history alike are unfolding very much according to His will.

Rice Paddies (unattrib.)

Rice Paddies (unattrib.)

The image of ‘runnels of water’ is a farming reference. On the steep hillsides of Judea, water runs off quickly. To collect it and use it for systematic irrigation was essential, and so it was guided from the pool downhill through a series of channels across the land that needed it. The water itself remained unchanged; its nature was to flow downhill and so it continued to do; its nature was to be absorbable by the crops and that didn’t change either. But the farmers channeled it in useful directions; it followed a plan.

The Lord can take someone whose idea is to go in a certain direction and to turn him so he moves in the direction that the Lord wants. In fact, the Lord can make it so that the person earnestly desires to move in the new direction. The significance of this is that kings are, by reputation, the epitome of arrogance and determination – this presents no problem to God, however. He will redirect the minds of the ten kings that rule with the beast:

“for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.– Rev 17:17

… just as He guided Cyrus (king of the Medea-Persia empire) to allow the Jews to return from captivity and rebuild the Temple:

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’; who says to the deep, ‘Be dry; I will dry up your rivers’; who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose‘; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”– Isa 44:24-28
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