Gems from Proverbs

A group of our UPC women are going through a study on the book of Proverbs.

'Proverbs: The Way of Wisdom' is one of the Living Word Bible Studies. The author is Kathleen Buswell Nielson whose husband, Niel Nielson, is the president of Covenant College. The study is inductive, and the emphasis is solidly reformed and orthodox. Last night, among other things, we studied some passages that tell us what God is like and also what man is like. It's good stuff, so I thought from time to time, I might share some of the points that have been meaningful to me.

One point that stood out in particular speaks to me in the midst of this current political season. (Some time I might write more about all that...)

Many Christians think/feel/believe that if only the 'right' man is elected (and this goes for all party affiliations) our national troubles will be ended and our 'mourning' will be turned to 'dancing'. And on the other hand, that if the 'wrong' man is elected, the apocalypse will be ushered in the day after he takes the oath of office.

Proverbs 21:1 tells us that "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;he turns it wherever he will. A note from the Geneva Study Bible explains: 'Though kings seem to have all things at commandment, they are not able to bring their own purposes to pass unless God has appointed.'

I don't know about you, but this brings me tremendous comfort - no matter who the 'king' happens to be, his heart is in the hand of our Almighty and Sovereign God, who divinely appoints all things!