Negativity will be your downfall

Numbers 13

Have you ever been pessimistic about something? This means looking at something as the glass is half empty and not half full. It is thinking the worst in everything. Usually being pessimistic means not having hope. I hate to say it, but I can be a pessimistic person just ask my wife. I can look at the negative in almost any situation and you know what this type of outlook can affect even my wife. She can then start having the same attitude as me. I realize that I set the pace for her. I have learned that I need to look at life as not a negative outlook but positive looking to Christ. 

In this section we see Israel right on the edge of entering the promise land. No more wilderness, it could have been all over. We see that God commanded Moses to send 12 spies into the land. This was a way for God not only to test the people but also the leaders. They spent 40 days in this land taking note of who lived there and what type of food was in it.

The bad report

The 12 spies returned from the adventure and the whole congregation gathered around these 12 men. Can you imagine the fate of the people was in the words of these men? They started to say that the land was full of milk and honey and they had the proof by showing the cluster of grapes, but then they started to share about all the different inhabitants of the land and how they were giants compared to them. They were looking at these people as a hinderance and intimidating. It seemed like all the spies had something negative to say except Caleb (and we find out Joshua did not either) who spoke up and said no come let’s go into the land that GOD has promised us.

Instead the people were overcome by fear and thought they would perish by their hands. They felt like they were grasshoppers in comparison to them. Tomorrow we will read the consequences that Israel will face for their lack of faith.

For us: 

It is sad that these leaders who were to set the pace for the nation and they instilled fear into their hearts. How quickly they forgot that it was God’s hand the released them from Egypt. It was God who controlled the parting of the Red Sea. It was God who led them to where they were. It was God who has provided food and water for them in spite of their complaints. The leaders of Israel should have said, “There may be giants but our God is bigger than all of them put together.” 

How about your problems, your giants in life? Do you think that they are bigger than God? Do you not know that God holds everything in this universe in his hands? God knows everything and knows the future. We need to put our trust in him, we need to have faith that as his words says, “He works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28).” In Matthew 6 we see how God cares for us more than the birds of the air and the flowers in the field. He takes care of us when we focus on him. When we focus on God our problems really fail in comparison to a mighty God. God does have our best interest and that was shown through Jesus Christ dying for us. Watch out! Negativity will be your downfall.