How to stay true to your vision?

Question:

How can a person stay true to their vision?

Fewer and fewer people today have a clear vision. Some start well, but don’t end well. Why? Let’s look in the Scriptures at people who have had a vision and finished running well. First of all, in order to stay in your vision and not deviate from it, you need to…

Seek to be attached to the Lord

The vision must be received from the Lord, and this inspires us and keeps us focused on the work. But it is not enough to know that you have a vision from the Lord. You must be permanently connected to the Word in order to receive continuous directions from it. Josiah, who was a child, understood this, and all his life he sought the Lord, even though his father and grandfather did not.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or the left. For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images. (2 Chronicles 34:1-3 NASB)

The psalmist also says:

I will delight in Your commandments,

Which I love.

And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments,

Which I love;

And I will meditate on Your statutes. (Psalms 119:47-48 NASB)

When we rejoice in the Word, He gives us directions from the Word. That way we will know for sure that we will keep our vision and we will not go off in another direction.

Staying true to your vision is a decision

Josiah had a clear vision — to make the people of Israel serve the God of David. He understood that the country needed to be cleansed so that people could turn to the one true God. It started and didn’t stop until it was over. It took him six years (2 Chronicles 34: 8).

For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images. They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he chopped down the incense altars that were high above them; also he broke in pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images, and ground them to powder, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem. In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding spaces, he also tore down the altars and crushed the Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 34:3-7 NASB)

So, persevere and do not deviate from your vision by turning your gaze to things that are seemingly good, but do not fit the vision that God has given you.

The methods may change, but the vision may not

Be a good strategist. Times can change, the methods by which you realize the vision can change, but the vision does not. In fact, using different methods that are appropriate for context and time means being wise.

After cleansing the land, Josiah went to the house of the Lord. Has this changed his vision? No. In fact, the vision develops over time and the work area increases. So it was with Josiah, so it must be with us, if we want not to deviate from our vision.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah an official of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the secretary, to repair the house of the Lord his God. (2 Chronicles 34:8 NASB)

What happened next?

When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses. (2 Chronicles 34:14 NASB)

Then Josiah decides to read this book of the Law in front of all the people.

Then the king sent word and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, from the greatest to the least; and he read in their presence all the words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that are written in this book. Furthermore, he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin stand with him. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers. (2 Chronicles 34:29-33 NASB)

Why? His vision was to make the people worship the only true God, the God of David. Even though he heard of the destruction that would come upon the people because they disobeyed and worshiped the idols, Josiah did not stop. He could have said, “They’re going to be punished anyway, what’s the point?” He had a vision of making a religious and spiritual reform in the country, and he did not stop at an apparent obstacle. He stuck to the vision he received.

Scripture also speaks of other people who received a vision from God and did not deviate from it. These are: Joshua, Ezra, Nehemiah, etc. I invite you to study these books to see how faithful these people were to their vision, even though they had many obstacles.

May God help us to remain faithful to the vision we have received!

Translated by Didina Vicliuc