Turns

“The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.”   Proverbs 21:1

Turns – Stretch out your hand.  Turn your wrist from side to side.  Move your arm up and down.  Did you notice how easily it is done?  No real effort.  No deliberate concentration.  Just a simple movement of direction.  The word natah, translated here as “turns” is the same root word found in the idea of God stretching out His hand or of spreading out a garment.  The focus is on how easy this is.

We are often tempted to think that the process of choosing a leader is a difficult and exhausting task.  We are caught in a culture of valueless platforms and imperfect processes.  The quest for power often corrupts any hope of principled decisions.  But God reminds us that the heart of the king is like water in His hand.  With incredible ease, He directs it toward His purposes.  What is too much for us is nothing more than a turn of the wrist for Him.

That does not mean God always chooses the spiritually upright as leaders.  God allows us to choose our leaders just as He allows us to choose Him.  And many times men do not choose wisely.  They reap the consequences of their refusal to be obedient to His direction.  But God still holds the heart of the leader in His hand.  He can turn the direction of a nation as easily as He can turn the direction of the wind.  We may suffer the consequences of our folly, but that does not mean God is not in control.  Consequences are just another form of instruction, whether they are exercised through enemies or through friends.

The politics of the land are not usually aligned with the purposes of God.  To think that we will usher in the Kingdom by political means is to usurp God’s authority.  It simply isn’t up to us.  Just the same, we are accountable for the witness we give.  And we should never forget that the Greek word for witness is martyr.  The politics of Jesus is the politics of sacrifice, not of success.

What determines your direction?  Is it sacrificial obedience or it is political power?  How will you consciously display the difference?