Who rules the heart of world leaders

Devotional: Proverbs 21:1

The verse for today: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” (Proverbs 21:1).

Don’t worry about world leaders. Read this:

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah.” - Ezra 1:2. 

Cyrus the Great was the monarch who overthrew the Babylonian empire. He reigned from 539 BC to 530 BC.

The verse above says God prompted this pagan king to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah. You see, Jeremiah had prophesied that the Jews would be in captivity for 70 years. The 70 years were up.

But here is a more amazing prophecy: Isaiah wrote Cyrus’ name 150 years before he was born. He prophesied that Cyrus would rebuild Israel’s Temple.

Isaiah 44:28 says, “who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’

Can you imagine predicting a person by name and what he would do 150 years in the future? Impossible, right?

Now here's a fun fact for you. In 2018, coincidentally the 70th year of Israel’s independence, Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Some people at the time, compared Donald Trump to King Cyrus. And a group in Israel minted a commemorative Temple coin and guess what images are on the coin? King Cyrus and President Trump.

What does this all mean? God is never surprised and never worried because He rules and overrules the heart of earthly rulers in every generation. So don’t be troubled by news stories about world leaders. Trust in God.