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No Revelation, No Vision

             Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction. (Proverbs 29:18)

I should probably begin with an apology. This is one of my favorite verses. I’ve written about it twice this year already, but changes are taking place in our lives, and I feel the need to remove the magic from this verse, for my own good if no one else’s.

I’ve noted before that I tend to negate myself. I argue that I am not a _____ because of some ludicrous claim that I don’t measure up. I might fail and be an embarrassment to this person or that group, so better not to claim association. Put simply, I can’t see myself as many of the things that I am. I have no revelation or (to use the King James vocabulary) vision.

The idea is not limited to people who have no prophet telling them what God says. Everyone has some idea or vision of what the universe is like. They have a worldview. It may not be well-defined or clearly communicated, even to themselves. In other words, they have no revelation or vision. And without it, they are not only blind but disoriented. There’s nothing mystical or supernatural about it. It’s just reality. If we have no knowledge of the universe or ourselves, or believe lies about either, we’re going to run into difficulties. This takes us back to a simple formula. Our behavior is a direct result of our beliefs, and if our beliefs are contradictory or confused our behavior will be so as well.

One of the grievous mistakes we make in our view of the universe and ourselves is that we are at the center – that we are God. Another is that we tend to further define ourselves as something other than “merely” people. If we cannot be God, we must at least be special, so we define ourselves by our skin color, ethnicity, occupation, economic class, or other “skin deep” aspect ourselves as if those matter. If we are going to distinguish ourselves from others, the greater reality is that our beliefs distinguish us. In other words, our vision is what truly either divides or unites us. 

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