428: A Matter of Perspective

Are you facing difficult, even seemingly impossible obstacles in your life right now?  Have you given up before you even started on a dream or goal?  Is discouragement clinging to you like cat hair on wool fabric?  If you answered "Yes!" to any of those questions, then you need to read the Memo below. (If you answered "No!", you can read on as well.)

A SCOUTING EXPEDITION

When Israel was on the verge of entering the land, Moses sent twelve men to spy out the land as the Lord directed him to do (see Numbers 13).  The men went and saw some spectacular things.  They beheld a land flowing with milk and honey, so to speak.  Everything in that land was large -- the cities, the inhabitants, and the fruit.  One cluster of grapes was so large that it took two men to carry it back to Moses.

This was the land the Lord had promised to give the people, but there was only one small problem:  The people panicked!  They saw the good but they also saw the bad and they allowed the bad to overshadow the good. This is the report they brought to Moses:

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Numbers 13:31-33).

The people who listened to them bought into their report and decided that there was no way they were going to enter that land.  They also talked of rebelling and even killing Moses and anyone who sided with him that they should proceed.

A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

It was then that Joshua and Caleb, two of the spies, stepped forward to rebuke and encourage the people:

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them" (Numbers 14:5-9). 

So what can we learn from Joshua and this story?

1. Joshua saw the giants as too big to miss in battle, the people saw them as too big to overcome.
2. When you share a gloomy perspective, it is contagious.
3. The people lost perspective on how big God is when they saw how big their problems were.
4. The people did not go forward and saw it as reasonable; God saw it as rebellious.

So what can you learn from this story?  Where have you allowed your perspective to affect your judgment to act? Have you bought into someone's pessimism instead of the Lord's optimism?  It is a matter of perspective as to how you see your problems and challenge?  I urge you this week not to be like the people but to be like Joshua and keep your problems and opportunities in proper perspective and act like God is as big and powerful as He truly is.  Have a great week!

    Feel free to write your comments to this entry on the site where it is posted.

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WOW:  This past week, $600 for the Sophia Fund, $250 for the Deborah Foundation and a whole lot of books, toys and other children's supplies arrived. What's more, at least a dozen people told me yesterday in church that they had things to donate and would deliver them in the next few weeks.  I have no idea how I will get all this over to Kenya, but I am not worried.  I have people going with me in February and we will take as much as we can.  I truly believe that God will work all this out, so I refuse to fret for even one minute.  I wrote an update on The Sophia Fund and Deborah Foundation last week, which included two emails from Kenya that describe what the latest Sophia Fund allotment has meant for their work. You can read about it here. 

After you read the update, I hope you too will act to help today as we approach the Christmas holiday.  I need money and supplies to feed and educate them in a difficult environment. I am grateful for your prayerful and prompt response to the children's needs.  If you need more background or information, go to my blog to see my latest post or go to my Facebook page. I will figure out a way to get everything to Kenya.  You just figure out a way to get them to me. 

DAILY PROVERB: I am now posting a short daily devotional focusing on one verse every day on my blog site. If you would like to read it or subscribe to receive it, just go to my site and register there. I promise to have it updated every day and have been doing so since March.

FACEBOOK: My goal is to have 1,000 Facebook friends on FB by 12/31. Right now I have 786. I update my status on Facebook (you can find me by searching my email, johnstanko@att.net) every morning to include a daily verse from Proverbs and an inspirational quote. I do the same on Twitter @johnstanko as well as a daily feature entitled "What Would Jesus Ask?" Go there to sign up and follow along.

SPECIAL NOTE:  I will be posting some of my best Christmas Memos from the archives over the next few weeks.  I will resume our discussion of Joshua in the new year.

Comments

[kenny]

YES YES YES !!!

It's TIME to GET MY JOSHUA on, and stop being another Fear-filled Israelite !

The Promised Land awaits !!!

[Joe Sarria]

Very good memo John. Everything in life is about putting our challenges in their proper perspective, is it not?

Merry Christmas

Joe Sarria