The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the heart. (Proverbs 21:1-2)
The Hebrew concept of heart is the total person. It is not merely an emotional construct, but our mind, will and emotions. The heart is “our governing center.” Notice what the writer of Proverbs says in this couplet.
There is a higher authority than the authority of a king. Authority in its essence is decision making power. The “kings” of today around the world largely think that they are autonomous and bow to no man. But there is One who is sovereign. He turns the heart of kings, any leader, in whatever direction He deems best.
The English translation includes a word play on the Hebrew. A king or leader has his “ways.” But the Lord “weighs” the heart. The idea of “way” is a person’s course of action, his or her mode of operation. When your only vantage point is your own, every course of action and every mode of operation is right. But there is another vantage point. The Lord, the One who bends and turns the heart of leaders towards His designs, actually looks at the mind, will and emotions of a leader. The Lord looks at the “governing center” of a leader, a leader’s motives. The Lord measures a leader’s motives for what ever course of action or mode of operation he or she chooses.
The Lord bends and the Lord weighs.
What is the lesson? What principle is worth holding on to here?
Submit your leadership to His, so that your course is true and your motives are pure.
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