A FAMINE OF TRUTH

Proverbs 29.18
A FAMINE OF TRUTH
"Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law."

THE FAMILIAR KING JAMES TRANSLATION, "Where there is no vision, the people perish," is misleading. It has been interpreted to mean that if we do not have a vision to save the lost, they will perish in their sin. Alternatively, the verse has been loosely quoted to encourage us to have vision or foresight, or else what we do will not succeed.

In its original context, it means something else. The "vision" is actually a "revelation" which a prophet receives, and "perish" is better rendered "cast off restraint." So, without revelation from God through the prophets, the people simply do what they wish with no regard to God's law. Put succinctly: no law, lawlessness.

The situation was typical of the days of the prophets Hosea and Amos: "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge," from "a famine of hearing the words of the LORD" (Hos 4.6; Amos 8.11). That this is the correct interpretation is seen in the second part of the verse, "but blessed is he who keeps the law."

The need for God's Word is as great in our times as it was in the days of Solomon or the prophets. Despite the stupendous advancements man has made in science and technology, he still does not live by bread alone (Matt 4.4). Without the knowledge of God and His Word, man has no map to travel by, no compass to tell him which direction to go.

The same is true of the church. In recent years, there has been a tendency to stress subjective experience over the objective teaching of God's Word. Of course, experience is important, or else knowledge will be nothing but dry academic facts. But experience cannot go against or beyond the clear teaching of the Word. For example, worship can be, and should be, a deeply emotional experience. But the emotions must be based on truth and on the right knowledge of God.

John Stott, in Between Two Worlds (1982), says (page 83), "Our worship is poor because our knowledge of God is poor, and our knowledge of God is poor because our preaching is poor. But when the Word of God is expounded in its fulness, and the congregation begins to glimpse the glory of the living God, they bow down in solemn awe and joyful wonder before his throne." Without revelation, without such exposition of God's Word, we remain impoverished and lost.

Do I feed regularly upon God's Word?