Where There Is No...

Photo by Edryc James P. Binoya (Unsplash)

I’m sure there are many of you who have read or heard it proclaimed before:

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

It’s a powerful line and one that has been used by many a leader (or leadership consultant) to extol the importance of having a vision and casting it, so that the people you lead will be served.

The source is Proverbs 29:18.

Only it isn’t.

The best translation of the Hebrew for “vision” is actually “revelation.” And it isn’t a reference to a leader’s revelation about what the people should do or be, but rather about the importance of people knowing and following God’s revelation. In its typical Old Testament context, it refers to prophetic revelation given by God, through a prophet, to the people. This revelation can be withheld or refused.

The result? The word “perish” is actually best translated “cast off restraint.” Think of undisciplined children running wild around the house.

So what the verse is actually saying is, “Where there is no sense of God’s revelation – His Word – people run wild.”

I still think that preaches, just in a different way.

When you remove any sense of God having spoken, of there being absolute truth, then people become their own gods and run wild. They cast off restraint and follow only the sound of their own wishes and desires, instincts and feelings, lusts and cravings. Radical individualism becomes the only moral compass.

I still believe that without visionary leadership, organizations of any kind – including churches – perish. There’s just not a verse stating that, but of course, the Bible is not meant to contain exhaustive truth, just necessary truth. 

I also believe that without an understanding and acceptance of God’s revelation, any individual or group of individuals will perish.

But I do have a verse for that.

Because it is a necessary truth.

James Emery White