Each day we wake up to negative reporting. We are surrounded by people, social media and news reports that give negative reports. Constantly being bombarded by horrible news leaves us asking, “How much worse can it get?”. But when we look at history, I am sure many previous generations have asked the same question. And the answer is…it will get much worse. We need look no further than Revelation to find the answer to that question.
Negative reporting is nothing new. Twelve spies in the book of Numbers were sent into the Promised Land. This Land had been promised to the Israelites since long before Moses. It was the promised land flowing with milk and honey just waiting for its intended inhabitants, but only two of the twelve spies saw it that way. Caleb and Joshua came back with a holy expectation of entering Canaan, but the other ten were afraid. “The people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large.” Numbers 13:28.
“We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Numbers 13:33. The challenges were larger than life. The ten spies who spread a negative report among the Israelites were small. Their negative reports stirred people to shout, cry and complain (sounds familiar). To help matters, Joshua and Caleb addressed those who were upset by the report from the ten spies. “The land we passed through and explored was exceedingly good. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” Numbers 14:7 and 9.
When we hear horrible news around the world, we seem like little grasshoppers. We feel too small and insignificant to do anything. We feel defeated, deflated and afraid like the ten spies and the rest of the Israelites. I hear Christians all the time fearful and complaining because of all the terrible news they ingest. Some wake up to it and go to bed with it, each day only to wake up the next day with a defeated spirit.
Two out of ten – that’s only 16% of people who recognized God was bigger! God said of Caleb, “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly. I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” Numbers 14:24. A different spirit? A spirit that doesn’t sink to grumbling and pouting, but a spirit that says, “I don’t care how big or bad it looks…my God is bigger!”.
Following God wholeheartedly and having a Caleb spirit – a different spirit, is believing His promises in spite of negative reports. Trusting that God is in control and will have the last word and the victory is a spirit who leans into worship and away from the reports. The ten saw bad, but the two saw good, yet they saw the same things. Two Christians hear the same news; some see the good and praise God for being in control and pray over the situation while others shout and complain because they only see the bad. We will inherit what we interpret. Be one that posses a “different spirit” and inherits a land of plenty.
