Proverbs 21:1 “The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
So how does God answer our prayers for a nation’s government? The above quoted passage of scripture gives us one of the methods that God uses, for in this passage God reveals to us that the hearts of those who are in authority are in His hands, and He can therefore influence them to make decisions according to His will. You will recall that it was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the children of Israel leave Egypt. And so in the same manner God is also able to soften the hearts of a nation’s leaders, so that they will govern effectively in creating an environment in which their citizens can live quite and peaceful lives and the church can live godly lives in all reverence before God.
Daniel 1:18-21 “Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. (19) Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. (20) And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. (21) Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus.”
Another way that God answers our prayers for a nation’s government is that He raises up His saints to positions of authority in those nations, so that they are able to influence decisions made in those governments that are conducive to good governance. We see an example of that principle in the above quoted passage of scripture, for Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were believing Jews that God placed in senior government positions within the Babylonian Empire. The book of Daniel reveals to us that these men had a profound influence on the Babylonian leaders and were thus able to positively affect decisions made by that government. And so in a similar manner today, God is able to take His saints and place them into positions of authority in the governments of the nations in which they reside, thus influencing those governments to govern in accordance with godly principles.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments