
What is Your Perception?
Posted By
at Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Numbers 13:33 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 13:2 The LORD said to Moses, Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.
Considering the statement God made to Moses, you will realize that God himself was the one giving the land of Canaan to Israel. Consequently, the end of the matter had already being determined in God’s mind, all they had to do was to be able to see things through the eyes of God and possess the land by faith.
Have you ever wondered why God commanded Israel to go and spy or explore the land? God could have just commanded them to go and possess the land straight away, since He was the one giving it to them.
Moses’ words to the twelve leaders of the tribes that were going to spy the land were: Numbers 13:18-20 see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.
God is a God of purpose who creates each of us with a specific purpose.
His words to Jeremiah were: Jeremiah 1.5 before I formed you… I knew you and I set you apart for my holy purpose. However the truth is, the purposes of God for you do not just drop on to you from heaven. God equips you with all that you need to possess that purpose, in terms of talents or gifts. Your duty then is to plan and work with God to possess that destiny with wisdom and faith.
When the spies that went to survey the land came back, the general report about the land was: Numbers 13:27-33 it is indeed a bountiful country, a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces (a branch with one cluster of grapes had to be carried between two of them on a pole). But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too’.
But Joshua and Caleb differed in their perception; their words were, let’s go at once to take the land…we can certainly conquer it! All the twelve spies saw the same thing in the land of Canaan but the difference was in their perception or interpretation of what they saw. Ten of them focused on the giants that they thought could not be conquered, but Joshua and Caleb focused on a bountiful land that God had given to them. They saw things through the eyes of God and therefore had the right perception. The ten saw themselves as grasshoppers in the presence of the giants, forgetting that, the God they served is greater than the giants they saw. They focused on the challenge instead of focusing on the God’s promise to them.
What you see is determined by what you focus on.
What are you focusing on today?
Are you focusing on your problems or God’s promises?
The God you serve is greater than the giants you see. If He has given you the land, then know that you can surely posses it, come what may. He has never promised and failed anyone before? He is a faithful God. God’s faithfulness is not going to change.
With obedience, faith and wisdom you will possess your promised land.
Remember the just shall live by faith not by sight. So what’s your perception today?
Norman