PROVERBS 29:18 WITHOUT VISION, PEOPLE ARE LOST

Proverbs 29:18
Without divine vision, the people cast off restraints (are naked)
but blessed and happy is he who keeps the law.

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Without a vision, people do not know where to go. This is why billions are spent in today's culture with everyone telling people any number of paths to take. Which one is right? Who is wise that we should understand their ways and seek to follow them? The old standard of measure, the word of God, has been erased from the people's minds. They wonder around the hills like blind sheep. Sheep being led to the slaughter by the goats of this world. Everyone has a memory of one goat in their life. We try to self protect by building barriers to not be hurt again. But these walls only divide us from loving one another and receiving love. For me, the main goat was my father. He never taught me one thing. This was devastating for me, since the Lord put a love of His laws in my heart. Learning would be my life's passion, and it would be the way out of the darkness. So the root of bitterness was planted by my absent father. Now that I see the etymology of verse Proverbs 29:18, I understand the significance of this void of knowledge. I understand why my spirit was shattered, because people without knowledge or vision are completely lost and naked. It left me vulnerable, fearful and exposed to the hostile elements of this world. It left me in the dark without a light. It left me in the cold without a coat. Where do you begin? Where do you go with such a starting point? For me, I went to hostility, bitterness, hatred, judgment and revenge. Not a good starting point for a young woman about to enter the world. I was ignorant of standards of conduct or normal and healthy ways to establish and maintain relationships, which left a string of brokenness too long and painful to even consider here today. Over the past 10 years the Lord has been restoring and refreshing me. Facing my demons has been the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. 

The Broken World Where We Live. The people of the world are no different for this is a broken world due to the sin of mankind. We all like sheep, have gone our own way. Rejecting the guide book and standards given by God our creator. We all did our own thing, without limitations or restraints of God's holy word. In today's post Christian world, the people lack a common vision to share as the universal standard of truth for living a happy and healthy blessed life. And all sorts of moral decay set into our culture once prayer was removed from our public schools and God was pushed to the corner and told not to speak. In this new anti-God America, the people have grown dimmer and dimmer in their knowledge of God. This is the source of decay for anything goes. Everyone can pursue their own standards of truth and happiness as all things are subjective to interpretation and expression. Because their is no truth, now people question and redefine the most basic and instinctive truths. We no longer even know if we are male or female, or if we are human at all. All things, including human life itself, have lost their luster. The mind is free to pursue any conceivable reality that it desires, without limitations. This free range thinking, stemming from a debased and depraved mind, conjures up all manner of deplorable depravities. The Lord says, My people perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Having the guide to life is the radiance of glory and light from which life truly originates. Rules by which we should live is the origin of where all things emanates. 

Insight: Light Within our Hearts so We Have Eyes to See. When we are given sight, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the standards of measure are illuminated in the mind of our spirit. Once we see the standards, we instinctively know that our behavior and conduct was deplorable for it fell short of the glory of God. This is when we truly see ourselves as our gracious and loving Lord sees us. We now are completely aware of the sin, transgressions and iniquities within us and we repent. We radically change our way of thinking, which is what true repentance is. This is the renewing of our minds, the washing away of dead works from our consciences.  This is when we find ourselves at the foot of the cross asking for the Lord's forgiveness and we beg Him to make us anew. We ask for Him to make us in His image, for we can now see how flawless and beautiful and great our God is. We can then spend the rest of our days giving Him all the praise, honor and glory that is due His holy name. Forever. Amen.

When We Maintain Standards of Truth, We Are Blessed. When we follow the rule book given with man on how to live the most perfect, happy, healthy, blessed life then we will prosper in all that we do. We will find joy, love, peace, health, prosperity, sufficiency, and completeness. We will discover why we were created and how best to achieve the plans that we decreed for us before the creation of the world, and certainly before we were ever formed in our mother's womb. Please won't you allow yourselves to grow in the knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ so that you may live.

The Etymology of Proverbs 29:18. (Without H369) (divine vision H2377), (people H5971) (are cast off restraints/naked H6544); (but blessed H835) (is keeping H8104) (the law H8451). When we break this truth down we see that when we have no vision, prophecy or divine words of God that we the people (who grow dark) become naked without direction, blind and lost, going wherever the winds of the culture shift - to our own peril, we are led astray; but blessed and happy are those who keep, observe, regard and cherish the laws of God through His holy word, the bible.

• H369 ayin without, nothing, neither, never, no, none, not, nought, faileth, fatherless, incurable, for lack of. From a primary root to be nothing or not exist; nonentity.
• H2377 chazown vision, oracle, prophecy, divine communication.
  • from H2372 chazah to see, behold, look, a mental sight (dream, revelation), a primary root to gaze at, mentally to perceive, contemplate with pleasure, to specifically have a vision of, prophecy. 
• H5971 am people, nation, persons, members of one's people, kindred.
  • from H6004 amam hide, dim, grow dark, eclipse, to be dimmed.
• H6544 para cast of restraint, refuse, uncover, naked, avoid, go back, bare, made naked, set at nought, perish, to lead, to let go, ignore, let alone, to let loose, to let alone, avoid, neglect, to loosen.
• ​H835 ester happy, blessed
• from H833 ashar  blessed, lead, go, guide, happy, leaders, relieve, to go straight, go on, advance, make progress, to pronounce happy, called blessed. From a primary root to be straight, especially as a level, right; figuratively to go forward, be honest, prosper.
• H8104 shamar keep, observe, heed, keeper, preserve, beware, mark, watchman, wait, regard, save, to keep, guard, observe, give heed, have charge of, to watch over, wait for, to retain, treasure up (in memory), to celebrate. 
• H8451 towrah law, direction, instruction, body of prophetic teaching, instruction in Messianic age, body of priestly directions or instructions, body of legal directives, codes of law and conduct, Deuteronomic or Mosaic Law.