"The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.
To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."
Proverbs 21:1-3
The first verse seems to be expressing the idea that the Lord is in charge. Figurative heart-holding rather than literal. :) Also, God turns rivers wherever he wants them to go. That is kind of cool too. like this verse because it reminds us that everything is in God's hands. If we have faith, we're going to be okay, no matter what madmen are in control.
Then we hear that we always think that we are right, but God observes our intentions and motivations, probably more clearly than we do sometimes. This is instructive because it helps us remember that we need to take a step back and trust God's judgement, especially when we are clearly biased. If we obey God's commandments, we allow room for God to make the call and we don't rely on our own justifications and excuses, which often fail us when it comes to temptation and pride. When in doubt, we should always keep the commandments rather than assuming that we're the exception... which can be a big temptation sometimes.
The last verse of the selection is great because we get dramatic sometimes. We think that some grand gesture will solve our problems, get on God's good side, or whatever. We want to solve it all in one fell swoop. In actuality, it's the day to day choices that we make that forge us into better people. The dramatic gestures don't last.
Today, let's do the daily things that make us better and the lives of the people around us better. Let's have faith that God knows what he is doing, and things will work out the way they should. Let's obey God's commandments and not trust ourselves when we start justifying exceptions to his rules. Let's ponder our own hearts, and get going on improving our intentions. :)
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.
To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."
Proverbs 21:1-3
The first verse seems to be expressing the idea that the Lord is in charge. Figurative heart-holding rather than literal. :) Also, God turns rivers wherever he wants them to go. That is kind of cool too. like this verse because it reminds us that everything is in God's hands. If we have faith, we're going to be okay, no matter what madmen are in control.
Then we hear that we always think that we are right, but God observes our intentions and motivations, probably more clearly than we do sometimes. This is instructive because it helps us remember that we need to take a step back and trust God's judgement, especially when we are clearly biased. If we obey God's commandments, we allow room for God to make the call and we don't rely on our own justifications and excuses, which often fail us when it comes to temptation and pride. When in doubt, we should always keep the commandments rather than assuming that we're the exception... which can be a big temptation sometimes.
The last verse of the selection is great because we get dramatic sometimes. We think that some grand gesture will solve our problems, get on God's good side, or whatever. We want to solve it all in one fell swoop. In actuality, it's the day to day choices that we make that forge us into better people. The dramatic gestures don't last.
Today, let's do the daily things that make us better and the lives of the people around us better. Let's have faith that God knows what he is doing, and things will work out the way they should. Let's obey God's commandments and not trust ourselves when we start justifying exceptions to his rules. Let's ponder our own hearts, and get going on improving our intentions. :)
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