The King's Heart Like Water Flows

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases."

"And as water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy. And as water has no constant form, there are in warfare no constant conditions. " Sunzi's Art of War

F.B. Meyer's "Our Daily Homily," published in 1894 in London by Morgan & Scott (available today as "Great Verses Through the Bible") is my favorite devotional, and I am often surprised at the verses he chooses for each chapter. For Provers 21; I would have gone for verse 3: "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice". But I appreciate Meyer's take on verse 1. As I think of God maneuvering watercourses I am reminded of the ancient Chinese and their Grand Canal, which stretches for 1,114 miles, and of Sunzi remarking on the shapelessness of water. Our lives too would be shapeless and meaningless, were they not channeled...
From Meyer:

Madame Guyon says that there are three classes of souls that may be compared to rivers flowing towards God as their ocean.
1. Some move on sluggishly and feebly. These are often discouraged, dwell much in the outer and emotionalo, and fail to seek God with their whole strength.
2. Some proceed decidedly and rapidly. These havfe large hearts, and are quick in their response to God's Spirit.
3. Some press on in headlong impetuosity.
This comparison of our hearts to watercourses filled with torrents from the hills is a very beautiful one, and is capable of great expansion.
WATERCOURSES NEED FRESH SUPPLIES OF WATER FROM THE HILLS: and our hearts are in constant need of freshets from the everlasting fountain of God'snature.
WATERCOURSES MUST FULFIL THEIR MINISTRY IN ALL WEATHERS: and we must continue patiently in faith and well-doing, whatever be our circumstances or emotions. If we fail, the whole land will be smitten with drought.
WATERCOURSES END IN MERGING THEIR WATERS WITH THE OCEAN TIDES: so God will one day be all in all.
Will you let God lead your heart whither He will? Just as a husbandman will cut watercourses in different directions to conduct the flow of the water, so will you not let God lead your life? You can be a watercourse: He must givce the water. Only be content, like the riverbed, to lie deep hidden beneath the waters; not noticed or thanked by those that stoop to drink the refreshing draughts. It is impossible for the water to pass through you without nourishing your own soul.