God has given us His Word, and He calls us to be faithful to it. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:9–11). If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Conversely, when we heed God’s Word, we are blessed. When we fail to read God’s Word and live it out in our lives, we become people “without vision.” When we ignore God’s Word, we begin to live without restraint to our own peril. God has also given us the written Word, the Bible. Hebrews 1:1–2 says, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” Jesus has come into the world as the living Word of God (John 1:1, 14). Our obedience to God and our keeping of His Word flow from a relationship in which we are loved by God and we love Him in return (1 John 4:7–10). When Jesus named the greatest commandment, He referred to the command to love God (Mark 12:28–34). David talks about the fear of the Lord being pure (verse 9), he calls himself God’s servant (verse 13), and he calls God his “LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (verse 14). Within Psalm 19 we see indications of relationship with God. Life is not found in our ability to obey a list of dos and don’ts. Lest anyone be confused, this is not a call to legalism. He writes, “By them your servant is warned in keeping them there is great reward” (verse 11). David, the psalmist here, goes on to describe God’s decrees as “more precious than gold” and “sweeter than honey” (verse 10).
The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes” (Psalm 19:8). His precepts “are right, giving joy to the heart. Psalm 19 elaborates on the perfection and trustworthiness of God’s Word. The next part of Proverbs 29:18 tells us: “Blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.” We are blessed when we keep God’s directives. So what is the remedy to such lethal waywardness? Ultimately, living in such a way will lead to death because to ignore God’s way is to ignore the way of life (Romans 6:23). With this we understand that, without the Word of God, people are “loose” that is, they go their own way. Other proverbs use the same word to denote “ignoring” or “neglecting” instruction (Proverbs 1:25 8:33 13:18 15:32) and “avoiding” the path of the wicked (Proverbs 4:15). It is also used in Leviticus regarding uncovering one’s head or letting one’s hair hang loose (Leviticus 10:6 13:45 21:10). The word translated “perish” or “cast off restraint” in the original means “to loosen” and thus “to expose or uncover.” The same Hebrew word is used in Exodus 32:25 during the golden calf incident: “Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies” (emphasis added). Proverbs 29:18 says that “the people perish” where there is no vision. Lack of vision, then, is a lack of God’s revelatory word. It is also used to introduce the prophetic books of Isaiah and Obadiah and several of the visions of Daniel. The same Hebrew word used in Proverbs 29:18 is found in 1 Samuel 3:1 in the context of the rarity of the word of the Lord and the infrequency of prophetic visions.
The “vision” in this verse refers to a divine communication as from a dream, revelation, or prophecy. The NIV puts it this way: “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.” The ESV has, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” Other translations of the Bible help clarify the point of Proverbs 29:18 for modern readers. Proverbs 29:18 is not talking about having a business or ministry vision. Of course, it is true that having an idea of where one is headed helps in getting there. Without a long-term plan-without a vision-people are doomed to wander aimlessly. The King James Version of Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Some have used this verse to emphasize the importance of vision in leadership.
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