Ideal or Vision?

Where there is no vision, the people perish." Proverbs 29:18

Saturday's writing by Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest spoke about Ideal or Vision. There is a quote he included by the poet Robert Browning: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?"

I wanted to be absolutely sure I understood what Chambers was saying. I looked up the words "ideal" and "vision." Ideal did not appear in the Bible so I checked the dictionary. Webster suggests that it is a "mental image or fancy; conceptions; standard or typical example." The way I see this, it may be man's thought or idea about something. Vision on the other hand is defined by Strong's Concordance as a "divine communication; to behold, to see."

So Proverbs 29:18 is suggesting that without Divine communication, people perish or "show lack of restraint." Many people go about their lives living as the world lives, in whatever fashion they desire--their ideal--without the relationship or Divine guidance of a Holy God. They will wander aimlessly, believing in their own way of doing things or seeking man's approval of their way of life, many never finding true happiness.

I have to admit as I first read this devotional I saw it quite differently. My first thought was a question: Is what I am doing in my life right now for God an ideal or a vision? Is what I am doing what God wants me to do? Is He setting the stage for me? I personally don't see what I do today as impacting my future. I don't see what I'm doing, as I mentioned on Friday, as being important, but one day I may look back and see where I have traveled from and where I will be at that time. I'm in a process of change. The Lord is still putting it all together and I must start here, in faith, believing that I am and will be continuing to learn by sitting at His feet. I cannot see the outcome yet, but it will revealed one day.

Perhaps that is what is meant by reaching out and grasping at something that is beyond our reach, not for what is just at our fingertips. Desire the vision, not the ideal. We don't need to know the specifics of that reach and what we will grasp but trust that if we want to do God's will we deliberately allow Him to stretch us. We should allow ourselves to reach beyond what seems comfortable today. I've often heard that we should go beyond what we think we can do. Of course if it's God's will it will be successful. If not, it won't!

People without a vision will one day wither and die without the Divine relationship and Divine revelation. How empty those lives can be. How full our lives are having a vision rather than an ideal. And my vision is not just about myself. It's about impacting someone else's life either now or in the future. I feared that I only was grasping at an ideal, but after having studied the above Scripture I believe I can say that I am working toward God's vision for my life. It's about sharing with others that I can be fallible, I will stumble, I am not strong on my own, but that the Lord will be my strength as I continue reach for that vision.

How can we reach for this goal? We must continue to seek God for our lives. We must look to Him for our guidance. We do this by sitting at His feet and learning and listening as we read His Word and applying it to our own lives. Have I an ideal or vision? God has shown me seeking Him I have gone from ideal to vision. Chambers ended with these words: Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done before? Is there a freshness and a vitality in our spiritual outlook? What excellent questions to be asking ourselves.

...give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 1Timothy 4:13, 2Timothy 2:15

Heavenly Father, I thank You that there is a vision in my life. Perhaps it has always been there but not realized until recently. I thank You for never giving up. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to You. Continue to work in me that I might be shown acceptable and approved in Your eyes. Let Your Word be understood and spoken with integrity to those around me who do not have a relationship with You. I'm reminded of an old hymn which says "Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; naught be all else to me, save that Thou art; Thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light." What more could a person desire?