A few nights ago, I was taking the pig slop out to our pigs, and there was very little natural light from a waning crescent moon that hadn’t begun to peek over the tree line surrounding us. I should also note that I had been doing some construction around the house (as I am often doing). As I was maneuvering blindly through a maze that I created earlier that day – trying to recount where I laid the wood, the shovel, and the rake – I crashed into the goats’ milking stand. Thankfully, I didn’t dump the slop on myself in the process. If I would have only turned on a flashlight I could have avoided some pain. Without vision, life become problematic and painful. Proverbs talks to this:

Proverbs 29:18King James Version

¹⁸ Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

The term vision here has a few meanings. This word is often used as a prophet’s message from God. It is also be used to mean sight, specifically at night. We can see that in this verse, vision is parallelled with the law of God. What is being communicated here is that without the law of God there is death. We believe that God’s Word has been completed. He is no longer giving new revelation but has given us all that He is going to in His Bible. We have the Word of God, or you could say we have a vision. This is contrasted by a time in Israel’s history when God still spoke with man directly at times, and many times he still used his already written Word.

1 Samuel 3:11 KJV

And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.

This is during the time when judges were raised up to bring Israel back to God, but that book is highlighted by a phrase that “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (judges 17:6 and 21:25). The proverb we are looking at gives us a contrast. Without vision -verses -keeping the law. Without vision is like the time of the judges; people walking according to their own sight. This is like me trying to make my way through the construction site in the pitch dark. I had no vision. I was still walking according to my own ideas of where things were, but I didn’t have enough light to see. Those who do not have Christ as their savior do not have the light of the Word of God, so they perish eternally and physically.

This is not only for the lost, but Christians as well. Many times, those who claim to be Christians have rejected the vision of God. This is not a dream that one has, and it is not an aspiration. It is simply God’s revealed truth. He has told us to love our enemies, but our way is to – at best- ignore them. God told us not to commit adultery, but man “follows his heart’ and this path leads to destruction. The Bible teaches clear principles that many Christians ignore or outright reject. We walk according to our own sight, and not the vision God has for us in his Word.

Psalm 119:105 KJV

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

It is God’s desire for us to seek his vision, that translates to keeping the law. He promises that Happiness can only be found in obedience.

S.T.
I Thesalonians5:24
"Faithful is he..."