While I was making the beds and cleaning up our bedroom late
yesterday morning, I found myself mulling over our Pastor’s sermon about the
Christian’s need to have a vision. Among
many other scriptures he used Proverbs 29:18 as a foundation for his
point. This verse reads: “Where there is no vision, the people
perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (KJV) A modern
version tells us that without vision “the
people cast off restraint,” (ESV) and yet another that “… the people will lose self control.” (ERV)
I had to laugh at the modern translations as that seems to
be exactly what we are seeing among many people in the world today. This verse makes it pretty clear (at least to me!) that the correct
vision to hang onto in this life comes from God’s will as found in His Word. Without that ever-before us, we can easily
get off track and lose self-control.
I also had to stop what I was doing for a moment and
mention to my wife who was sitting quietly in the middle of the room that “We’ve always had a vision for the things we
sought to accomplish throughout our marriage… and even before.” I can remember as a young elementary age kid
planning for things in the future. It
was like I’ve always needed to have something before me that I was reaching for
in order to keep life interesting, challenging and meaningful to me.
Then when my spunky girlfriend began to introduce me to the
Word of God in High School, it just seemed like a logical transition to
transfer the directions of my visions from my limited capacity into the hands
of what I was beginning to see and hunger for… a strong, mighty, faithful and loving
Father God. And it has kinda been that
way ever since those early days in the fall of 1970.
And that thought takes me right back to our discussion of
the importance of personal Bible Study time each and every day! In our last two posts we gave some practical
methods for the study of God’s Word and I felt like yesterday’s conclusion of a
two part series on vision was another way to stimulate our interest in His
Word.
The Psalmist in Psalms 119:114 prayed to the Father
explaining that “You are my hiding place
and my shield. My hope is based on your
word.” (God’s Word ©) What he was saying
was pretty much the same point as the statement from Proverbs 29:18 above. A quick glance into the Hebrew and Greek
translations will confirm that the word “hope”
(as usual) would better be translated “expectation.” So therefore you could say that “My ‘expectation’ is based on your word” with
“word” referring to the “logos” or written word of God. (Strong’s)
The writer is establishing the idea that his expectations
in life are solely based on the vision he gains from his daily-increasing familiarity
with God’s Word.
From these two verses, one can also learn how to quickly discern
the source of your and/or other's vision in life. When Piper and I were first faced with the
reality of what we were up against with the attack in her body, we immediately (if not sooner!) turned to God and His
Word for our vision of her health. There
was NEVER
any question! We had just spent three
years being saturated in the Word in Bible College and the Church and Christian
community we were involved with in Oklahoma.
Other thoughts, reasoning’s or diagnosis NEVER had a chance to
sneak in!
When we returned home, I can’t say that everyone responded
with the same positive resiliency as we had.
I think the worst year started in late summer of 2010 when I quit my job
at The Home Depot to take care of my wife full time. For us it was simply a matter of continuing
to follow the vision that God’s Word was prescribing to us and stepping out in
faith. But we soon discovered that not
everyone was agreeable to our steps of faith for it seemed they had a different
source for the vision that was unfolding in their understandings.
But, as you most likely know by now, the results of any
vision does not always present themselves immediately and ours didn’t either…
but then slowly and methodically things began to change for our benefit… just
as the vision from the scriptures in God’s Word had given to us back in 2007,
2008 and 2009.
So… what kind of vision for your life do you want to
have? You know Piper’s and my answer to
that question… and we have some 47 years of results to prove it! Is it always easy? NO!
Does it always work out exactly the way you think it should? NO!
BUT -
through faith, lots of continual expectation and daily communication with the Father through the pages of your Bible
- you will eventually see His Will, His
VISION and therefore His grace and
faithfulness come to fruition in your life.
Don’t
wait another day… start today! Have a great week as you delve into the
wonderful truths in God’s Word for you, and as you do, keep telling yourself… “I am excited and EXPECTANT about finding
God’s VISION for my life today!”
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