Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18)
Why do people feel so rootless in today’s culture. I think it is because people have no direction. If there is no direction, there is no knowledge of where to go.
Different translations of the Bible use different words in this verse. Divine guidance, vision, prophetic vision, prophecy – all mean the same thing. Where there is no knowledge of where to go, people don’t know where to go. They become in essence, a milling mob, just moving around. Frustration and irritation become dominant and before long, anger.
People have to have direction. No one is comfortable, no matter what they may say, with a directionless life. If you do not know where you are going, how can you know if you have arrived? In fact, how can you even know where you are in life?
Spontaneity is good and fun, but it is only good when allowed within a framework of direction. When all of life is spontaneous, it ceases to be fun. When there is nothing to do, leisure is no longer fun. When there is no purpose, there is no freedom.
Freedom only comes in knowing where you are going. Absolute freedom, anarchy, is scary. There has to be order. Or society falls apart.
Children feel that strongly. They love the ability to be themselves, to be free spirits, to do their own thing (as we used to say), but where there is no order, these things are impossible. Life is lived with the grim knowledge that there is no purpose, no meaning, no form.
Give children the chance to not have any rules and their first inclination is Yay! Then they begin to realize that where there are no rules, there is nothing to stop people from doing bad things. And if people are not stopped from doing bad things, children could get hurt.
Freedom is only good inside structure, revelation, guidance, vision. Without these, there is no restraint. People begin to think they can do anything they want and no one can stop them.
If you don’t think this is true, look at our culture today. You see it coming big-time.
And without the revelation, vision, guidance, structure, there can be no blessings.
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