The King’s Heart Prov. 21:1 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

The Lord turns the hearts of kings just like a river turns – seen rivers from the air, they twist and turn in every direction – so the Lord can and does move the hearts of kings – that’s how he makes things happen internationally and intra-nationally – when God decides to do something and he wants to use a king to get it done, he can do it and it will turn out exactly like he wants it to.

Pharaoh [Ex 5:2] was an agnostic king – yet the Lord said in Rom 9:17, “Even for this cause have I raised thee up – God’s will was that Pharaoh refuse to turn after the plagues so that he could show his judgments to destroy Egypt and to put the fear of the Jews in the other nations (i.e., Jericho – 40 yrs later, Jos 2:9-12).

Notice these other kings whose hearts the Lord turned to do his will:

Sennacherib – 2 Ki 19:21-28 – he had the power to destroy other nations because God gave him that power and directed him to do it.

Nebuchadnezzar – Jer 25:9, 27:6 – the Lord said that he was “my servant” – but he also made an image to his own god, threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace, and spent seven years eating grass as an ox, Dan 4:27 – nevertheless, he was the Lord’s servant.

Cyrus – Is 44:28; Is 45:1 – a king who, scores of years later, was directed by the Lord to return the Jews to their land and decree that their wall and temple be rebuilt.

Josiah – 1 Ki 13:2 – the prophecy of a king who wouldn’t be born until hundreds of years later – he was directed by the Lord to destroy the altar.

David – 2 Sam 24:1, 1 Chr 21:1 – here David’s heart was turned to number the children of Israel – however, in this case, both the Lord and the devil moved him to do it.

When the Lord is ready to gather the nations together at Armageddon – Rev 16 – he will just turn the hearts of the kings – Zeph 3:8 – you can see this developing already.

If the Lord wants this nation to do something he will just the lead the hearts of the ruler and it will happen – their attempts to keep God out of determining the direction this country takes will never limit God’s desire to move this country any direction that he pleases.

That’s why we need to pray 1 Tim 2:1-3 – Obey this!!