TURNING THE TIDE
by an Old Disciple
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it withersoever he will.” Prov. 21:1
If a man can dig channels and change the course of water at his pleasure, then a Sovereign God can change a heart whenever it pleases Him. And, if He can redirect a king’s heart, He can certainly do it with the commoner. From the highest to the lowest, God is in control.
When ditches are dug, and the water takes a different course, it does not change the nature of the water nor put force upon it. And so it is with God when He brings about a change of attitude or action in man. It does not take away his free will. God simply directs, providentially, the course that suits His purpose.
Ezra says of the king of his day, “Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart...” And John the Beloved tells us in Revelation, “God hath put in their [kings] hearts to fulfill his will...until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” Nowhere is this power over the heart illustrated any better than in the book of Esther. God takes sleep from a king so that he will read a particular book that results in bringing deliverance to an entire nation.
Oh, how we need, once again, to trust in Almighty God to change hearts as we endeavor to accomplish His will on earth. The God who made the sea can certainly redirect it; and the God who made the human heart can change it.