WHAT YOU CAN SEE 1
27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”
32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Numbers 13:27-33 (NKJV)
If God is doing anything for you, the eyes with which you see it depends whether you would be able to get it or not.
Those who were sent to spy out the Land of Canaan saw the land and came back with a report based on their mindset—their thoughts and perspectives.
a. A larger number of those who went there did believe that they would not be able to get or take the land (Numbers 13:31).
b. They said they were not to match with the people of the land, in other words, they said the people of the land were stronger than them, the Israelites: " . . . FOR THEY ARE STRONGER THAN WE" (Numbers 13:31).
c. They also said the land devours its inhabitants: “THE LAND THROUGH WHICH WE HAVE GONE AS SPIES IS A LAND THAT DEVOURS ITS INHABITANTS" (Numbers 13:32).
One of the problems of those who saw negativism about the land is, they magnified what seems to be a problem, challenge or threat, in getting or acquiring the land—they were not seeing with God's eyes, His perspective. One thing that a believer should imbibe and cultivate is the ability to see things in God's point of view, see with the eyes of God, or Bible eyes.
This is made possible by being conversant with the Bible, reading and studying and pondering on it. A believer should strive and endeavour to train his or her mind, reform or rebrand It, from a deformed or perverted or dirty mind state—to a transformed and changed mind (Romans 12:2).
If a believer's mind is left untempered or untransformed or unchanged, it would be difficult for God to work through such a mind. The person with such a mind would always counter whatever God wanted to do through him. If God is saying Yes, he would be saying No, because he could not comprehend what God was trying to say, tell him. This is the reason God usually requires the transformation of the mind of whoever would walk with Him and be used by Him. Because such would always be drawing the hands of the clock back, breaking the speed of fulfillment of whatever God is set to do; If the mind was not transformed or changed.
The minds of the larger number of those who went to spy the land were untransformed or yet renewed, thus they could not see with their inner eyes what God wanted to do and what He was capable of doing. They made God too small. They were talking of the bigness and greatness or mightiness of the giants in the land and they concluded that they would not be able to get or take the land (Numbers 13:28,33). They had forgotten about the mightiness of the Almighty God Who sent them out to spy the land and Who had promised to give the land to them, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
If you are going to walk with God as a believer, you would need to work on your mind. Your mind would have to go through the surgery of transformation through the Word of God. You might be born-again quite all right, but If you did not allow your mind, your thinking faculty, to be transformed (Romans 12:2), you might end up being the enemy of your own self—hindering God from doing whatever He intended to do in your life. Because, you yourself with an untransformed mind would be the one counteracting whatever God wanted to do in your life.
Now, the people who gave the bad report or the report of doubt and unbelief were the ones telling God that they would not be able to take the land. God had said He was giving the land to them, but they were unwilling because of their unrenewed minds or unwilling minds. They were seeing with a blurred eyes, they could not see with the lenses with which God was seeing—they could not see with God's eyes or viewpoints.
A believer should walk by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17). When a believer begins to magnify things that he or she sees than what is said by God, the person would have problem in getting the plans of God for his or her life accomplished or fulfilled. Whatever you will get from God starts with what you can see. What you cannot see is not gettable or realizable in God's plan and agenda. Those spies could not see themselves getting or taking that land, and they eventually could not. They died in the wilderness. The unfortunate aspect of it, they influenced and poisoned the mind of the whole congregation against what could have been given to them by God and they all perished in the wilderness. God said as they spoke in His hearing so would He do to them: "SAY TO THEM, ‘AS I LIVE,’ SAYS THE LORD, ‘JUST AS YOU HAVE SPOKEN IN MY HEARING, SO I WILL DO TO YOU" (Numbers 14:28 NKJV).
They said they would not be able to take the land and God sanctioned what they said: "BUT THE MEN WHO HAD GONE UP WITH HIM SAID, “WE ARE NOT ABLE TO GO UP AGAINST THE PEOPLE, FOR THEY ARE STRONGER THAN WE" (Numbers 13:31 NKJV).
Speak faith. Be positive in your thoughts and speeches.
Peace.