CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Vision
Vision is the ability to visualize the dream in your heart, the knowledge of what you want to be, of what you are trying to achieve and the place in life where you are headed.
There is a story that goes something like this:
Three men were busy cutting stone that would be used in the construction of a cathedral. When asked what they were doing, the first replied, ‘my job’. The second replied, ‘putting food on the table’. The last replied, ‘I am building a magnificent cathedral’. All three were doing the same job, all three were earning the same, but all were achieving something different. Which one do you think stood up in the morning with joy in his heart? Which one knew he was achieving more than the mundane? Which one had vision?
To have a vision of what you are going to achieve is vitally important. It gives your life direction and meaning and is not limited by what you see or do with your eyes or hands. Neither is your vision chained by what you have or what you do not have. Your vision is as big as you allow it to be.
In Abraham God planted a vision of his descendants living and working in the land of Canaan. Even though Abraham was old and his wife infertile he clung to the vision believing with all his being that it would come to pass. He would not see it with his physical eyes but in his mind it was a reality.
Because of this came into being from one, and that of one having died, even as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
These all died by way of faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. And they were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Heb.11:12-13)
In Moses, God had planted the vision of a new land for the Israelites, a land flowing with milk and honey, that they would be a nation, free from the yoke of slavery, living united under one God. But when Moses died the responsibility of leadership fell to Joshua, but for him to be successful and finish what Moses had started he needed to take hold of the vision as well. Ahead stretched years of war and strife, and any individual looking at the fortified cities and the giants that had to be conquered with no vision, would have given up before even starting, just as the Israelites had done forty years before.
As one of the original spies, Joshua had seen the land forty years before and he knew the potential. Time spent with Moses had allowed the vision to form and grow within him and, along with the other Israelites, he had experienced first-hand the power of God. Combine the two, vision and God’s power and you have an unbeatable team. No giant, no walled city, no disobedient, ‘stiff-necked’ Israelite was going to stop them. From the outset, God spoke words of encouragement to him. Words all businesspeople need to hear and engrave on their hearts.
Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.(Josh.1:6-9)
Three times the Lord told Joshua, ‘be strong and of good courage’, in other words, do not be afraid when your vision and physical abilities clash, do not look at the obstacles but keep your thoughts on the end result. Our attitude must be the same. There will be opposition and competition, but if we keep our eyes focused on the vision, the big picture, we will handle each problem in our stride.
Some problems may look bigger than we think we can handle, but remember the words of the Lord, ‘be strong and courageous’. From God comes wisdom and guidance. At times we will surround them and their walls will fall down, at other times we will go around, and other times again, we will climb over but always remember that the Lord has given us the rules and regulations which we must follow. Study them, get to know them, let them always be in your mouth and in your thoughts, live them, do not turn from them, neither left nor right, but keep to them and you will be successful. Success might not come overnight. For the Israelites it would take years, but the vision was in place and no matter what adversity, enemy or trouble they faced, they strove forward till it the land was theirs.
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
(Hab.2:1-3)
Like Joshua, there must be no hesitation or doubt in what you want to achieve. Write it down, so that you and everyone around you knows exactly where the business is going. Accept correction if necessary, do not allow a mistake to turn you away from what you are trying to achieve. Setbacks are only temporary, the vision is permanent. Know where you are going, be convinced that you are going to achieve it and you will be successful.
The second city that stood in the path of the Israelites was Ai. It was not larger or better fortified than Jericho but it became a major stumbling block for the Israelites. When the cause of their defeat was investigated it was discovered that certain Israelites had taken their eyes off the greater vision and fixed it on something lesser, gold. The shift in their gaze cost the organization both time and manpower. To Joshua’s credit, once the problem had been identified he immediately corrected it and Ai was duly conquered. In business we must be alert to the things that divert our attention, things that could cause us to move backwards in our quest. Backwards for the Israelites meant the wilderness where they had spent forty years learning to have faith, developing their vision and strengthening their fortitude.
Do not accept ‘wilderness years’ as your lot as so many Christians profess today. Wilderness years are for the under-achievers, people who plod along, going nowhere, happy to earn their keep and nothing more. They are bogged down in a circular trench, going round and round, the dreams that once were are no more. The novelty has worn-off; life has become a job. The vision is gone. This happened to the Israelites and God had to intervene sternly:
And Jehovah spoke to me, saying,
You have gone around this mountain long enough. Turn northward. (Deut.2:2-3)
Unfortunately a large number of businesses find themselves in the same situation, just going about the daily grind. Usually, such a business started off with an idea, it may have been for a green grocer, or butcher, or supermarket, auto repair shop or any other business for that matter. And with the idea came a dream of wealth or the easy life or, perhaps there was some vague hope of early retirement or being ‘the big man on the block’, but from the outset there was something lacking, something that would have made the business vibrant, alive and a force in the community. That something was vision. We must remember that an idea and a vision are two separate things.
It is all very well to identify a need and to fill a gap in the market, but doing so without a vision will ultimately lead to stagnation.
We must understand that an idea for a business venture is not a vision. The vision is what you wish to accomplish with the business. Where do you want to be in five or ten or twenty years’ time? The idea is there to help you accomplish that vision.
The reason why so many businesses fail is because there is no vision, or perhaps visionary goals that have been set to low, not as a result of a lack of ideas. If your vision is just to have a shop on the street corner, then that is where you will end. The vision is what you hope to achieve or where you envisage yourself at some point in the future, the end result of your ideas.
You may have the idea to open a butchery, for instance, but what do you hope to accomplish with it? Where do you want it to take you? If you have no vision you might as well continue working for someone else, and help them achieve their vision.
As a butcher, your vision may be to set new standards by advocating and supplying free range produce, for example, and your shop would be the starting point, or you may have a vision to supply only local meat, as opposed to the imported kind, a vision which can be expanded to other shops and supermarkets. Your vision may be a chain of shops supplying cheaper produce to overburdened housewives.
Whatever the vision, make it plain, remind yourself of it constantly, ‘do not turn to the right or to the left’.
In our example above, the butchery would be the idea to accomplish the vision, but whereas the vision would always remain unchanged, ‘set in stone’, or ‘written in tablets’, the idea could change to farming, for example, or wholesale. Ideas can be unlimited but the vision remains constant.
In the book of Nehemiah, there was a need for security.
And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. (Neh.1:3)
Nehemiah’s brethren brought him the news that the people of Israel were in great distress, harassed by enemies, unprotected and vulnerable. They were in constant danger as there was no security wall around Jerusalem. In that moment a vision was born in Nehemiah to see his people living in safety, securely protected from their enemies.
The vision took such a hold of him that he fasted and prayed about it for many days. And in that time an idea was born to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The idea could have been anything from raising an army to provide protection, to leading his people away to the mountains where they would be safe, but God placed the idea of rebuilding the walls in Nehemiah’s heart. It was the vision to see his people safe that led him to risk his life by approaching the king to ask for help in fulfilling his idea of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
His vision was not to make the Israelites strong again that they would rebel against the king, or to be independent and free, this would only have angered the king. His vision was their safety, and God is faithful in guiding us to achieve our vision without any harm to ourselves. Rebuilding the walls was the best option available.
Material gain played no part in his vision, rather the improvement of standards and of life expectancy. His own well-being played no part in his plans; his vision was far greater than his own personal safety. But that is the nature of vision; it is greater than the visionary.
Time plays no part in the fulfilling of ‘vision’. On the road to Damascus, Paul was converted to Christianity and God instilled in him a vision for the salvation of the Gentiles, but it did not take on any form or have any momentum for a number of years.
Paul first lived in the wilderness of Arabia for three years before he sought out Peter to learn from him. Then he returned to Tarsus where Barnabas found him, and together they journeyed to Antioch, where they were anointed for their work amongst the Gentiles.
What a contrast to Nehemiah, who received his vision and idea and could almost immediately set about achieving it, building and completing the wall in 52 days. It may be quick or it may take time, but without ‘vision’, there is no going forward.
Paul and Barnabas left familiar shores and set sail into the unknown with only a vision to sustain them. A vision they shared with others who would help them build churches throughout Asia Minor (Turkey) and Greece.
When Paul was told that he would preach the gospel to Gentiles, he could have gone as far as Cyprus, done his work, built the church and returned home, but his vision encompassed the whole Roman World. The idea was one town at a time, one soul at a time. It would take another three hundred years for Paul’s vision to come to fruition, but those that came after him knew exactly what it was, they read it and ran with it.
Vision sets a path for others to follow. It is probably the cheapest, and yet it is the most important aspect of any business. Without it there will be little or no progress, and certainly no legacy.
In Genesis 12 God laid out His vision to Abram for a holy nation, which would be a blessing to the world.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.(Gen.12:1-3)
It was a vision repeated to Isaac (Gen 26:2-5) and to Jacob (Gen 28:13-15) and to Moses (Ex 6:1-8).
God’s vision for the descendants of Abraham, was a land of their own, a place where they may dwell under His protection, where He may dwell amongst them, and they would be a blessing to the entire world. This powerful vision was cemented in a covenant between God and Abraham, and extended to all generations.
Through the Israelites, God would demonstrate His power and glory to the entire world. It would take hundreds of years for the vision to be accomplished, but accomplish it, He did.
The vision of God placed in Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Joshua was fulfilled, but once Moses and Joshua had died, the vision stagnated, with the people looking inward, serving only themselves. Each time this happened, God would raise an enemy as punishment for the people, and then in response to their cries for help, a judge or leader would be sent to their rescue. So the vision was maintained, blowing hot and cold until God allowed a human king to ascend the throne of Israel. It would be his responsibility to keep the vision alive.
First came Saul, he failed miserably because he allowed pride to cloud the ‘vision’. He became more important than the vision.
He was followed by David, and through David the vision was restored. Israel became a great power, her influence extending beyond her own borders, and through her all the nations of the world saw the greatness of God at work. Israel became an attraction, drawing people from all over the world.
Under David, nothing or nobody was allowed to interfere with the vision. On his deathbed, David charged Solomon with the vision:
Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,
I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man;
And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:
That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. (1Kings 2:1-4)
Under Solomon, Israel was to achieve the ultimate in wealth, power and status. Solomon, however, could not maintain the focus of the people on God, allowing foreign gods to be worshipped in Israel. Eventually this loss of direction and loss of vision resulted in the division of the kingdom shortly after Solomon’s death and ultimately led to the total disintegration and destruction of Israel.
When it comes to vision, ‘the sky is the limit’. Do not limit yourself or the potential of your people. A vision, as in the case of the Israelites, may take more than one lifetime to achieve, but without it the business becomes wayward and distracted. Take your time to establish your vision, know what you want to achieve, keep yourself focused and the vision will become a reality.