“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” Part 2 (Pro 21:6-10)
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“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” Part 2
(Pro 21:6-10)
[Study Aired November 13, 2025]
Pro 21:6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
Pro 21:7 The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.
Pro 21:8 The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.
Pro 21:9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Pro 21:10 The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.
Having the mind of Christ (1Co 2:14-16), is what it takes to have the “king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD”, and with that spirit within us as our hope of glory (Col 1:27), we will be “as the rivers of water: [that] he turneth it whithersoever he will.”(Php 2:12-13, Rom 8:14-16).
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God [“as the rivers of water: [that] he turneth it whithersoever he will.”], they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;(1Jn 4:17) but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.(Heb 5:7, Eph 5:30, 1Jn 4:3)
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
What an immeasurably great blessing to know that God has called us to be confident in the reality that we are His little remnant (Rom 11:5, Php 1:6, Heb 10:35), being given the power to see both sides of the pillar in the wilderness of our deceitful and desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9-10), whose wretched condition (Rom 7:24-25) can only be overcome through Christ (Exo 14:20).
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Heb 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? [the heart needs to be conquered by Christ in order to hold fast to our crown of life (Rom 8:38-39, Rev 3:11, how? Mat 10:16)]
Jer 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.
Now we know that each of these proverbs, the light and dark side of their sayings, must be understood to be within us starting with the wicked side that is revealed in God’s time and exposed by the brightness of his coming into our heavens (Mat 4:4, Pro 16:4, 2Th 2:3-7).
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. [the Word Exo 14:20, Isa 45:7]
Pro 21:6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
Pro 21:6 The riches you get by dishonesty soon disappear, but not before they lead you into the jaws of death. (GNB)
These “treasures” spoken of in this first proverb represent the word of God that we misappropriate in our vain flesh that wraps the word of God around the idol of our hearts (Eze 14:4). We unknowingly are seeking death, by simply going in the natural way of man (Pro 14:12), as the vanity of our flesh compels us to ask amiss and act unrighteously (Jas 4:2-6), “a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro”, as opposed to being as the “king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD as the rivers of water: [that] he turneth it whithersoever he will.”
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity [“mystery of iniquity”] before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Jas 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Jas 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.(“a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro” and our lack of faith causes our vain flesh to dominate our heavens when asking something of God, causing us to waver “like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” Jas 1:5-6)
Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Jas 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace.[More grace is what breaks the sinful cycle of lust and envy Rom 5:20, Tit 2:11-12] Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.[It is God’s favour, his grace that teaches us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lust, and He prepares our hearts so that we humbly receive that correction]
In the New Testament, this proverb was explained by Jesus as follows (Luk 12:13-21):
Luk 12:13 And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
Luk 12:14 And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
Luk 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Luk 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luk 12:17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
Luk 12:18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Luk 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luk 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
We are called to do otherwise (Joh 6:27):
Joh 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Pro 21:7 The robberyH7701 of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.
If we judge ourselves we won’t be judged (1Co 11:31-32, Isa 26:9), however we rob both God and ourselves when we don’t present our bodies a living sacrifice unto Him to be judged, which is our reasonable serviceG2999 “Latreia” service rendered for hire (Amo 3:10, Mal 3:8-9, Rom 12:1).
Robbery H7701 “Shod” – BDB: havoc, violence, destruction, devastation, ruin
Amo 3:10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robberyH7701 in their palaces.
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
If God is working with us in this age His chastening grace is going to abound so that we don’t neglect so great a salvation and continue to believe unto salvation (1Ti 4:13-16, Heb 3:14-15, Heb 10:29-31).
1Ti 4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1Ti 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
1Ti 4:15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
1Ti 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.(Joh 8:31-32)Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; (Php 1:6, Heb 10:35)
Heb 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
God has promised all mankind that “The robbery of the wicked” that “shall destroy them” will one day be repented of, and a new heart and mind will be given to all of His creation (Eze 36:26-33).
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Eze 36:28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Eze 36:29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
Eze 36:30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
Eze 36:31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations
Eze 36:32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
Eze 36:33 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.
Pro 21:8 The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.
It is God alone who can give us that pure heart, so that our work is “right”H3477 [straight, righteous, just], being His workmanship that is not made with man’s hands (Eph 2:10, Psa 127:1).
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Psa 127:1 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Being froward and strange is the natural default for all flesh that is cut off from God, going in a way that seems right in our owns minds, but God declares our actions to be “frowardH2019 and strangeH2054”(Mat 17:17).
Mat 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
“Froward” H2019 hăphakpak haf-ak-pak’
By reduplication from H2015; very perverse: – froward.
Total KJV occurrences: 1“Strange” H2054 vâzâr vaw-zawr’
Presumed to be from an unused root meaning to bear guilt; crime: – X strange.
Total KJV occurrences: 1
Pro 21:9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
To be raised in heavenly places, “the housetop” (Eph 2:6), and labouring to enter into Christ our “corner” stone and rest (1Pe 2:6, Heb 4:11), is why it is “better to dwell in a corner of the housetop”. This proverb is twice mentioned in this book (Pro 21:9, Pro 25:24) as a witness to us that the “house” is speaking of Christ dwelling ‘in the temple that we are’, as our hope of glory (Col 1:27).
The “brawling woman in a wideH2267 house” represents Babylon whose paths of destruction are wide, as opposed to the narrow way that leads to life (Mat 7:13-15). The way to avoid this house of spiritual harlotry is by keeping God’s commandments (Pro 7:1-12).
“Wide” H2267 Cheber
BDB: 1) association, company, band 2)shared, association, society 3) a magician, charmer, spell
Strong’s: From H2266; a society; also a spell: – + charmer (-ing) company enchantment X wide.
Total KJV occurrences: 7 — charmer, charming, company, enchantments(2), wide(2)Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.Pro 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Pro 7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
Pro 7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
Pro 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
Pro 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman,(false prophets – ravening wolves) from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
Pro 7:6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
Pro 7:7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
Pro 7:8 Passing through the street near her corner;[negative corner another Jesus] and he went the way to her house,
Pro 7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
Pro 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
Pro 7:11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
Pro 7:12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)Pro 7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
Pro 7:22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
Pro 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.(Pro 30:20, 2Pe 2:19)
Pro 21:10 The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.
Pro 21:10 The desire of the evil-doer is fixed on evil: he has no kind feeling for his neighbour. (BBE)
God admonishes us to “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”(Heb 12:15, Mat 6:12).
Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
This proverb therefore is speaking to our deceitful and desperately wicked heart (Jer 17:9) that needs to be diligently watched over as we learn to keep under ourselves and die daily in order to “Follow peace with all men, and holiness” (1Co 15:31, 1Co 9:27).
1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. [Php 3:13-14]
If we are not striving to capture our thoughts and bring them into subjection unto Christ (2Co 10:5-6), we will end up not “kissing the son” (Psa 2:11-12), and will not show “favour” to our neighbour, or our enemies who are to be beloved to us (Rom 11:26-28), as the other fold (Joh 10:16) that Christ commands us to love (Mat 5:44-45).
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.[‘within’, primarily]Psa 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Psa 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (to the praise of His glory Eph 1:12)Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.[Mat 5:47]
This verse in (Deu 15:9) sums up the point and admonition of (Pro 21:10) perfectly:
Deu 15:9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother,[Rom 11:25] and thou givest him nought;[Mat 5:47-48] and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
Mat 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
If God is working with us, we are going to be aware of our need to die daily, and keep under ourselves, and the need to be chastened and scourged as his children who are being received, and obeying the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves (Heb 12:5-15).
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Heb 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Heb 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Heb 12:14 [How it is healed:] Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: [the fruit of the aforementioned chastening of (Heb 12:5-11) revealed in (Heb 12:12-15)]
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
The trial of our faith is what is keeping us under His wing (Luk 13:34), and so we must not despise or grow weary of His correction that manifests the trial of our faith that is precious unto God [precious in God’s sight is the dying daily death we are called unto Psa 116:15, 1Co 15:31], as he makes His strength perfect through our weakness (2Co 12:9, Act 14:22). These are all the necessary circumstances that will be found in the lives of God’s children because, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will”.
Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! [Joh 10:26, Luk 12:32]
2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Act 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Lord help us to “most gladly” receive the much tribulation which we must go through to inherit the kingdom of God.