Ministry Monday: Stop Casting New Vision

People don’t need us to cast a grand vision. They need us to be faithful.

You’ve heard it before: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Great leaders stand on their podiums and at their pulpits to cast a grand vision about how things can be and how we will get there! I ask, what about loving and serving people where they are at? What about embracing what is rather than what could be? Are we forcing ourselves to devalue where people are and what God has already worked together? Are we forcing our own malcontent by always living in a possible future, a future that is not eve guaranteed? Is all this vision-casting actually counter productive? What does the Bible really say about it?

The verse typically used to justify the vision-casting sort of pastoral or presidential banter is Proverbs 29:18. So, let’s look to Scripture–our ultimate authority for all of life and ministry.

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law (Proverbs 29:18 NASB). 

So, we recognize firstly that the verse does not say, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The translation I quoted is the New American Standard. It turns out that this phrase comes directly from the King James, which says:

Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he (Proverbs 29:18 KJV).

So, we have a disagreement in translation that affects our interpretation of the verse. Without looking at the autographical language, the meaning of the text is fuzzy. The translations agree on every word but one, the word translated either unrestrained (NASB) or perished (KJV). So, I want to get to the bottom of it.

In the autographical language, Hebrew, this word is פרט (pr’ or para). It literally means to be unrestrained or to leave something unrestrained. It is like leaving a garden unkept. The garden won’t necessarily perish, but it will grow chaotically, leaving the plants to suffer. So, it is not the case that a lack of vision will cause the people to perish. It will cause the people to be unrestrained, chaotic, which causes suffering in their midst. I’m not anti King James. It is a good translation for what it accomplishes–given the ability of the translators and availability of manuscripts at the time it was commissioned. But, there is better manuscripal evidence now and a better english understanding of the Hebrew Language. Something is always lost in translation, so we should always look back to the autographical languages.

Simply considering the meaning of a word, though, isn’t enough to do proper exegesis. We must read the verse well–a practice called hermeneutics. With this verse in particular, we don’t have to see the surrounding context to get at a plain meaning, but I encourage you to read all of proverbs anyway.

Look at the verse carefully, and you will see two juxtapositions. Having no vision is the opposite of keeping the Law. Being unrestrained is the opposite of being happy. So, in its simplest meaning, this verse deals with what it means to be happy as a group of people. I think this applies to nations, cities, communities, organizations, and… churches. Do you want your group, country, and church to be happy? Look at the wisdom given to us here in Proverbs.

First, consider the vision Solomon refers to. A people that has no vision is unrestrained. But, a people that keeps the Law is happy.

This is a far cry from the vision casting we see from the great leaders of the world. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Solomon isn’t reaching into the future for something greater. Read Ecclesiastes, and you’ll see that’s vanity, meaningless. Instead, he is reaching back to the Law of God. To have no vision in this context is to neglect God’s good Law. To have vision is to keep the Law. The Bible is never about us making arbitrary goals for ourselves and striving to be more than we are. It’s about faithfulness to God’s word–which we already have.

Second, consider what it means to be unrestrained. Explicitly in this verse, it means to be unhappy. Explicitly, then, those who are not keeping God’s good Law will be unhappy. Those who keep God’s Law will be happy.

In this verse, Solomon is referring to a collective people, not individuals. “People” is singular. He is also referring to individuals. Happy is “he” an individual, who keeps God’s Law. So, we can read it both on an individual level and at the level of a group.

In life, ministry, politics, society, business, and whatever other pursuit, when we follow our own vision for the future and strive to reach our goals, we will be unhappy and will create unhappiness and malcontent in our groups. If our striving is to keep God’s good Law, we will be happy. This means much for the way pastors serve their church, presidents their nations, and business owners their clients. When we are the ones casting grand vision, we are pointing the people toward our goals rather than Christ’s word. God has already provided His vision, and I don’t think we can do better than Him. So, we resolve to give people the good Law of God. I believe this is truly the key to happiness in nations, communities, churches, and families. When we depart from God’s good word to chase our own goals, visions, and identities–we are unrestrained, unhappy, and everyone suffers as a result.

No wonder so many people in so many contexts, even churches, are so unhappy and malcontent. We get so worried about building something that we forget God is good now. God will take care of the future. Don’t worry about tomorrow. It has enough troubles of its own. I think someone really important taught that.

Let’s get back to our roots, brothers and sisters. Instead of trying to cast our vision for others, let’s simply strive to be faithful to God’s good, pleasing, and perfect Law.

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