Wisdom, in all of its beauty and power comes ultimately from experiencing consequences. Every action has a reward. Every effort is destined to be measured as a success or failure by the anticipation of the judges of our accomplishments. Expectations, insights, abilities, preparations and circumstances all actively participate in the outcome. For the Christian there is unique perspective. The believer is one who accepts that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is Lord of all and that God has raised Him from the dead. By dependence and acceptance, that person is a Christian. They adhere in word, thought and deed to the precepts of the Bible. They would see and declare any other way to be false and ineffectual. It is not a blind faith but rather one cemented in the concrete absolutes of those who have gone before. As one has so eloquently stated “God said it, I believe it and that settles it for me”.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he. Sight is a most desirable attribute in our world. Sight is the instrument of our vision. Yet there are many remarkable people without sight. Some from birth and others becoming sightless after a time. It is a different experience to have had it and lost than to have never known sight at all. The gift is relished. For those who are restored from the darkness of not seeing, there is even a more profound understanding of the gift. Spiritual sight is a most precious gift. In spiritual circles it is often said that there is no saint like a reformed sinner. None seem to abhor the effects of evil more than those who were partakers previously. They understand with the wisdom of experience how devastating the darkness of practiced sin can be. Before they received spiritual sight they were perishing in sin.
Perishing is common to the physical, emotional and spiritual lives we live. I have been afflicted with a terminal illness. I know my time in this physical life is limited. My disease is life itself. From the moment of my physical conception I have been racing headlong toward the inevitability of my physical death. I am closer now than I have ever been. I will not avoid it. The time of my physical death will come. In fact in God’s eyes it is certain. He knows the day and the hour. So for me to state the obvious is that my body is perishing. If I allow that knowledge to consume me then I am certain to be perishing emotionally. My distress and fear will overtake the joys I might have otherwise enjoyed. The opportunities to rise above the mundane and soar to new heights of love will be greatly diminished.
Without life we are perished. When the heart stops and the mind ceases to function, we declare physical death to have occurred. We have perished. Along with the physical end comes the end of opportunity for spiritual change. We continue to exist spiritually. We continue to exist emotionally. We continue on to the next state of our eternal existence. Just as a wild animal is born into an environment where a fear of man is quickly instilled, so our rejection of the love of God is in us at our birth. We are born physically alive, emotionally alive and spiritually dead. Our spiritual vison is in darkness and empty. We are separated from the One who created us for His companionship. We have no vision of what a relationship with Him would be like so we perish without hope.
A spiritual life can only be birthed within us if we will receive the gift of God. I was physically born alive but dead in trespasses and sin, spiritually. I was the enemy of my Creator. I did not have the vision to know His love. But the Spiritual life I now live, is one inseparable from the love of God. It is Jesus in me, the hope of glory. It is a thrill I came to know when I was twenty six years old. Until that moment, when I finally understood intellectually, emotionally and spiritually, I was in a constant state of terror. Not that I dwelt on it, I just existed in it. I lived for my pleasure ignoring my terminal condition. If I had died in the condition, I would have known the terror of eternal spiritual blindness. I would have been forever separated from His love, His presence and His family.
The vision which we receive gives us a new life. Without a vision of who Jesus is and what He has done for us personally, we perish. After we know Him by receiving His vision, we are happy to walk in His ways. We devour the words of His law and strive to travel in its guidance. Without His vision it is just a book of do’s and don’ts. We fight against it in a losing battle to be our own god as our terminal illness seeks to overcome us. When we travel on the highways without a clear vision of the bridge destroyed before us, we will perish as we hurtle toward it at the speed of ignorance. The same is true of the vision Jesus provides. Before I was able to “see” His vision, I was blind and undone. Now that I have seen the vision I am tickled beyond description to be obedient to Him and His Holy Word, The Bible.
Where there is no vision the people perish. And all around us the blind lead the blind and both fall into the ditch. Even if we warn them some will refuse to see. They will reject the wisdom we have been given. Yet some will hear. Some will see. Some will receive and believe and join His family. Then they will have the wisdom of experience and the opportunity to share the gospel truth. They have a new joy, a new happiness. Finally they can see clearly now. They will never perish, for they have a fresh new vision. That is the wisdom of vision.