Intro:

Opening Story: Once upon a time there was a family, a nice little family, who lived in a small town near a lake with a big back yard and all that a little family could want. In this family were two boys, the joy and treasure of their parents, but there was a problem with these two boys that created frequent tension and frustration in the house. One of the boys was an extreme pessimist, and other was an extreme optimist.

As an example of the daily struggles this brought to the family: Mother would make them both a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich and right on cue the pessimist would begin complaining, grumbling, moaning, and whining about how today there was to much peanut butter on the bread, or how today he didn’t want peanut butter and jelly and  why did he always get what he didn’t want. Meanwhile the optimist had the other end o the problem — so confident and believing the best in everything he would often he would head to school in the dead of winter without a coat always believing that today it was going to warm up, the sun would shine, the clouds would part, and all would be grand… Or he would not take time to study his work, because he jus knew this next test would be so easy he could pass it with his eyes closed.

The family had a real problem on their hands — and so when Christmas came the parents devised a plan to level out these two boys. They thought, the pessimist just needs to be pushed to a little more center, he needs something in his life that can help him to see that life is better than he thinks, something he can be happy about. So after much deliberation, and carefully listening to what the pessimist really really really wanted — they decided on getting him a brand new Remote Control Monster Truck — Now this monster truck is what every boy would want. It can handle rocky, or muddy or snowy terrain with working headlights, horn, windshield wipers, and even a front bumper wench. It is also fully amphibious able to float in water and use it’s spinning wheels to turn into a monster truck boat…. This pessimist was sure to keep a smile with this gift.

For the optimistic son the parents settled on something much simpler — they went to some neighbors who had horses and filled a bag full of manure. They could use it for gardening later in the year, and maybe it would tamper down this optimists optimism.

and so Christmas morning came and the parents peeked in the room of boy #1 as he opened his monster truck. To their delight they saw their son let out a shoot of joy as he saw the monster truck. He worked it over and over in his hands looking at giant tires, the slick red paint and the sleek body design. But it wasn’t long before he had discovered a factor defect… A single tire had a rubber nub that was a little bigger than the rest and with that the smile faded and the boy was back to grumbling again about his misfortune to be the only kid whose monster car wasn’t perfect.

A little disheartened they parents headed for the optimists room — and to their sheer amazement they heard him laughing and shooting for joy down the hallway. As they peaked into his room they saw the boy dancing around the bag they had left for him, covered from head to toe in the stuff yelling with excitement: “I can’t believe it, I am the luckiest kid in the world, if there’s this much manure there has to be Pony!”

Two Perspectives: One believed the best, The other believed the worst — One cherished hope, the other cherished complaint — One had visions of greater things to come, the other had visions of all he would lose or had lost — One could see a Pony in his gift (My Parents Got Me the Best), The other could only see a defect in his gift (My Parents God Me the Worst)… This story reveals how perspective can drastically change your approach to life — and friends the perspective we choose has the ability to determine our eternal destiny and our future happiness — which as we will see was the case when Israel was just on the edges, the very borders, of the Promised Land of Canaan.

We pick up our story this morning in Number 13 — Israel has traversed the wilderness and is now just South of modern day Israel in the wilderness of Paran. Everything needed to establish a nation is now ready. They have the Law of God given to govern them, They have the Sanctuary setup as a movable place of worship and all the systems set in place, They are organized and divided by tribes and armies ready for war, They have seen the miracles of God in providing food, water, and victory over their enemies, They have the promises of God also to encourage them. All that is left is to conquer the land!

[Num 13:1-2 NKJV] 1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

Now pause — What type of land was God giving Israel when He promised the land of Canaan? The Bible uses this strange poetic analogy called “Milk and Honey” — The Bible describes it as:

[Exo 3:8 NKJV] 8 “… a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, …”

Have you ever wondered what milk and honey have to do with the land of canaan? To a society of Shepherds and Farmers — the prime land that would make sure they could survive was a land that had plenty of fertile fields and water to feed and water their flocks — and the idea is that if the flocks are well fed they will produce plenty of milk, and good quality milk too… and if the land was good and the soil good, then flowering vegetation would abound all over the countryside which lots of flowering produce means lots of Bee’s who a farmer would depend on to pollinate his fields and produce a rich crop — and where there is lots of bee’s there is lots of what? Honey!!!

A land of Milk and Honey, is a land that is perfect for raising livestock and growing food — The very land shepherds and farmers would want to live and would prosper. This was what God had promised for them.

I wonder to myself if they had been a nation of blacksmiths — would God have called it the land of Gold and Iron?

or had they been a nation of Hunters and Fishermen — would God have called it the land of Elk and Tuna?

It is God’s delight to provide the very best for us… The Bible says, “He knows the number of hairs on your head” and He knows what will provide you the greatest good and happiness and To those who feel or believe that God only has hardships and suffering in store for you, know that when God gives a gift there is always a pony that is waiting, His ultimate plan is to set your feet on the high places beyond the dark valley— Because it is God’s delight to give us the desires of our heart (as long as our desires are holy and within his plan for our life)

[Psa 37:4 NKJV] 4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

[Psa 145:19 NKJV] 19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.

[Psa 37:5 NKJV] 5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring [it] to pass.

[Mat 7:11 NKJV] 11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

It was God’s will, His joy, His desire to give His people, a nation of Shepherds and Farmers, the land flowing with Milk and Honey! You see when we trust in the heart of God, it can change our perspective… When we expect that God wants the worst for our life, the challenges are magnified, and we grow to expect the worst — But when we believe in our heart that we are the sons and daughters of God — Loved by a heavenly monarch who is both able and wants to provide us the best — we can look at even the giants in our lives differently. speaking of giants, notice what God told Israel before they left Egypt:

[Exo 3:8 NKJV] 8 “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.

God forewarned them that six war-like nations would stand between them and the land of Milk and Honey. All of them were nations of giants! But before God mentioned the giants, He promised that He would bring them up.

Two things we can glean from this revelation: (1) God always wants to provide the best for us — He wants to give us our hearts desire (2) God doesn’t gloss over the giants but simply tells us He will bring us up. Notice His promises:

[Exo 23:23 NKJV] 23 “For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

Can’t you hear God saying: Yes, Israel there is going to be giants, I know — and Yes my sons and daughters war is coming in your future and it will be hard — and Yes, my beloved children the land is still good and worth fighting for, don’t give up now — and Yes my people, I will not leave you alone. I will send my Angel to go with you — and Yes, I am going to fight for you and you will see me defeat each and every giant as I give you the land of Milk and Honey — Stick with me, Trust in me, glorify me, don’t give up on Me — I am a different father, a better father, a father who loves you to the very end and sees the desires of your heart. Listen to Jesus describe this Father:

[Mat 6:31-33 NKJV] 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

The Main Point is that We can TRUST the heart of God to safeguard the things most important to us — We can trust our heavenly Father to provide for us the very things we are so anxious

about — Our Job is: Seeking God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness.

Everything else He says, “SHALL BE ADDED TO YOU”.

How different the perspective would be for not only the twelve spies that Moses would send into the land of Canaan, but also the entire camp of Israel if they were to trust in the Love of God, to Trust His heart and motive and abilities and promises to lead them into the land of Milk and Honey.

Here they stand on the borders of Canaan, and God in His graciousness says “Ok, send out spies into the land”

The Bible actually tells us that the ones who had requested to spy out the land were the leaders of Israel, perhaps not fully convinced the land was everything God has promised it would be:

[Deu 1:21-22 NKJV] 21 ‘Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up [and] possess [it], as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’ 22 “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’

[Deu 1:23 NKJV] 23 “The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man from

[each] tribe.

So God said “Ok”, let’s follow their requested plan

[Num 13:1-2 KJV] 1 “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan…”

The reason God went along with the people’s plan is that this could have been an opportunity to confirm all that God had promised to them — They would see the fertile plains and the grassy fields and the buzzing bee’s and the amazing produce. And yes, they would also be able to confirm that the obstacles that God had foresaw were there as well: The Canannites in their walled and fortified cities.

But friends if I give you detailed instructions like if I were to say to you, “Today after church you will be heading home and you will see a Moose on Pine Street, and if you turn right on the first street after the Moose you will see a man with a rifle, but don’t worry the rifle has no bullets, even if he points it at you, you’ll be ok, just keep going down Division to winter ridge they are giving away gold coins — and if you go inside you can have as many as your heart desires… And you go to check out my story — Sure enough a Moose on Pine Street, and then the guy with the Rifle on Division, and a Big sign at winter ridge that says “Free Gold Coins Inside”  

Wouldn’t that give you confidence to go inside and receive your coins? If the Church sent you too check it out, wouldn’t that give you confidence to give a good report? Hey everyone, the story is true, we can all get gold coins, don’t worry about the guy with the gun, he’s out of bullets and can’t hurt you — let’s go forward!

That was what was supposed to happen! And it wasn’t just random people that were sent, these were the leaders from each tribe:

[Num 13:3 KJV] 3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men [were] heads of the children of Israel.

So off the Spies go — the leaders go to spy out the land and they search everything out from the North to the South, from the coast in the west to the mountains of the East. There was nothing they did not discover in the land.

As they came back the Bible says they carry one bunch of grapes freshly cut from the vine so heavy and large it took two men to carry it:

[Num 13:23-25 NKJV] 23 Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. [They] also [brought] some of the pomegranates and figs. 24 The place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there. 25 And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

To put this into perspective, the largest closet of grapes known to grow in Palestine weigh about 10lbs — that’s a lot of juice in a bunch of grapes… However the Ellicott Commentary for English Readers says that there was a single instance of Syrian grapes weighing as much as nineteen pounds which was carried twenty miles by four laborers who each took turns carrying the grapes on a pole by two… The diameter of these grapes was approaching two feet around — about 20in. It was just a foretaste of what lay ahead for the rest of the children of Israel!

So the spies, after showing all Israel the massive fruit they had brought from Canaan, and I’m sure some of the people tasted the grapes (Who here would have tasted the grapes?), and the pomegranates and the figs and after seeing and tasting of this promised land, you can imagine the excitement growing and all Israel presses the spies to give their report — these people were ready to possess this land that tasted so sweet, so good — and so the spies gave their report:

[Num 13:27-28 NKJV] 27 …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.”

at this moment, Caleb notices the concern in the faces of the people as the dreaded giants are mentioned — But everything, yes everything is exactly as the Lord had told them. The Milk, the Honey, and the Giants… The growing low rumble of a million voices discussing the report starts to grow and the Bible says:

[Num 13:30 NKJV] 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.”

Caleb was not alone in encouraging the people — The Bible tells us that of the twelve spies, Joshua and Caleb brought back a positive report. The believed the word of the Lord and presented their report in truth that all that God had said they would see they had seen and they used the truth of what they saw that confirmed God’s Word to give them hope, faith, courage and strength to tell Israel to press forward…

Friends, we will often need to look at the confirmations we do have from the Lord to give us courage and strength and faith and hope to press forward when we see obstacles ahead. Over and over, God’s people have had to grab ahold of something, some evidence of the Lord’s leading to keep themselves moving forward. — Past answered prayers that give you courage to keep praying when you aren’t getting a present answer… Past successes that give you hope to press forward when your facing defeat… Maybe you need to cling to the promises of the Bible that affirm that you are loved when you feel worthless… Sometimes God gives us people who come into our path and lift us up with encouraging words, don’t dismiss those people or downplay their words of encouragement in your life — they are ambassadors of the Lord sent to lift you out of your slump, to carry you through your depression or to rewrite the script of your negativity….  

When we face giants — we need a perspective shift in order to move forward and we can either magnify the problem ahead or like Caleb and Joshua we can choose to MAGNIFY the evidences God has given which CONFIRM His Word.  

IN THE DARKEST DAYS — YOU CAN STILL CHOOSE WHERE YOU WILL FIX YOUR MIND

[Phl 4:8 NKJV] 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things [are] noble, whatever things [are] just, whatever things [are] pure, whatever things [are] lovely, whatever things [are] of good report, if [there is] any virtue and if [there is] anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.

There will always be something negative and discouraging that you could find and focus on in every situation — and these are the things that Satan will constantly place before you to keep you out of the church, to keep you out of God’s Word, to keep you out of your prayer closet, and yes to keep you out of the promised land.

But even the darkest valley God promises that there are better things we can focus on… When you are surrounded by lies focus on what is “TRUE”, when people around you lower the bar, you can still remember that God has called you to be “NOBLE”. In an age of impurity, make a commitment to set no impure thing before your eyes — focus only on what is “PURE” — if you see something unlovely in someone, talk about the “LOVELY” points in their life — Magnify the good, focus on virtue — if there is anything praiseworthy speak it — let your mind dwell in the high country and you won’t be crushed by the shadows!

Do you know how to truly KILL a GRUMP? You KILL him with KINDNESS….

— Try it sometime… When you find something unpleasant in someone, say to yourself: “Self, us and Jesus are going to Kill’em with Kindness”… and you may just be surprised with how the worst situation can be turned around by where you put your attitude and your focus.

Joshua, Caleb, and even Moses joined in trying to turn the people’s attention off of the giants and on to the Lord. Moses said to them:

[Deu 1:29-31 NKJV] 29 “…’Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. 30 ‘The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 ‘and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’

Look back at how the Lord has blessed and led you — Yes there are difficulties in your past you could focus on too, but look past all those, because there’s blessing back there somewhere you can grab ahold of like a battery to give you a positive charge in what you are facing right here, right now…

and this is where the sad choice of the unfaithful spies comes into play, because despite the encouragement from Joshua, Caleb, and Moses pleading with them all to trust in the Lord, to look to the positive evidences of His leading, to choose faith over fear — The other ten spies, decide, they choose to hold on to their unbelief and magnify the negative.

[Num 13:32-33 NKJV] 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.”

Here is the truth: We can always choose to magnify the worst in others and in our situation. What happens when we do this?

1. First, when we begin to magnify the negatives of our situation — we focus on the negatives in our mind, we focus on it in our conversations, we enlarge upon all the bad points… The first thing that happens is we lose sight of what is good and true…

Did you notice that the report of even the ten spies changed… They started off saying the Land was a prosperous land of Milk and Honey — Now they says “The land devours its inhabitants”!!! Even the good is turned into bad in the minds of those who magnify their problems.

2. When we magnify our problems, we cast a shadow on the experience and decisions of others… The Ten Spies magnify the difficulties in the land and the Bible says, through their influence all of Israel:

[Num 14:1-4 NKJV] 1 “… lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3 “Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”

What would happen were you to begin criticizing the church, it’s ministry leaders, magnifying the problems you see — Do you think this would benefit the cause of God? Notice that not only does this magnification of the problems destroy the people’s confidence in God’s ordained leaders, but it destroyed their confidence in God Himself…

Oh the woeful work we do when we allow our tongues to criticize others and magnify the problems in the journey.

3. When we magnify the problems, it is possible that we may recover from our negativity, but those who we have spoken to may have the impressions we have given them forever stamped upon their minds and hearts.

Oh friends, there is a better way to lead — To lead yourself, to lead your family, to lead God’s church, to lead our community to Jesus… How do we lead? We lead with a SMILE:

1. S — Set Your Mind: Find something good in every person and situation to dwell on
2. M — Mention The Good : Speak out the good you see, don’t hide it away in your heart
3. I — Internalize the Evidence : We can combat doubt and discouragement with the evidence God has given us in our past.
4. L — Love of God : Believe that our heavenly Father’s plan springing from His love is to give you the desires of your heart that are holy and in harmony with His will
5. E – Endure : Move forward in Faith Appeal: Will you lead with a SMILE?