Proverbs 29:18 is regularly quoted by church leaders and business people alike – I (mis)quoted it myself in management assignments at university.
The appeal of the verse for leaders is that, in the King James Version it says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Simplistically, it appears the verse supports the popular business view that success depends on having a clearly articulated purpose.
Notwithstanding that I’m not convinced ‘success’ is the objective of faith, this verse tells us something more (or different) to the management application.
The English Standard Version translates the verse as, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.”
The Old Testament tells the story of the repeated failures of the Israelites and God’s grace which continually returned them to faithfulness. The instrument at these turning points was a revelation from God through one of his prophets.
But as the era of each prophet passed the people once again ‘cast off restraint’ and did their own thing.
In that context, it is appropriate to talk about needing a fresh revelation from God. But some of us have developed a habit of not making decisions or actions until we ‘hear from God’. So, we stall waiting for a revelation about about what brand of teabag to buy.
Then I noticed the second half of verse 18: “but blessed is he who keeps the law.”
Rather than needing a fresh revelation from God, often what we need is to do what he has already told us.
