Our conclusions about circumstances are almost always more important than the circumstances themselves. Consider the story of the twelve spies in Numbers 13 and 14. The spies were commissioned to give a report to Moses and the children of Israel concerning the land God had promised to them. After forty days, they came back to Moses and were divided into two groups: 1) Joshua and Caleb, and 2) the other ten spies. Both saw the same set of circumstances but put a different conclusion to what they saw. Many factors contribute to how we make conclusions. Some of them are:
- Whether we have the habit of magnifying the Lord or magnifying the problem (Psalm 34:3)
- Whether we have been renewing our minds on spiritual faith food or worldly doubt food (Romans 12:2)
- Whether we believe God has equipped us to be victorious or has not really promised that (Deuteronomy 28)
- Whether we believe that opposition to our promises is normal or not (1Timothy 1:18)
Here are some great truths from the story of the twelve spies that will help us attach higher conclusions to the circumstances we face:
- Future blessings motivate us to keep going and to not give in easily to fear-based conclusions (13:27) Hope is the belief that the future will be better than the present, and I have the power to help make it so.
- Giants to defeat should not surprise us (13:28).
- The more we talk about our problems; the worse our conclusions get (13:29). As we mature, we learn to share the facts of a situation without releasing a concluding, spirit of unbelief in what we say.
- Our conclusions largely depend on what reports we listen to and receive (13:32). It takes no effort at all to be pessimistic or to have a victim mindset about the future, but we are empowered to overcome these and every obstacle we face.
- Who we think we are will largely determine the conclusions we make about life’s circumstances (13:33). It is often what we think about ourselves that prevents the promises from being realized.
You and I need to be the Joshuas and Calebs of this generation.
adapted blog by Steve Backlund 26.10.21