It’s all how you look at things!

Numbers 13:27 This was their report to Moses: "We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.

Numbers 13:28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!

Numbers 13:29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley."

Numbers 13:30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. "Let's go at once to take the land," he said. "We can certainly conquer it!"

Numbers 13:31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. "We can't go up against them! They are stronger than we are!"

Numbers 13:32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: "The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.

Numbers 13:33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that's what they thought, too!"

INTRODUCTION

There was an article awhile back in USA Today. It was about how people view or see God. The headline was “Your view of God will predict your valves and your politics.”

This article was based on a survey that was done by Baylor University.

They identified four viewpoints of God. So just basically how you see God.

The survey asked people to either agree or disagree with some of the ten descriptions of their personal understanding of what God is like.

Such as your belief that God is angered by sins. Or your belief is God is removed from the worldly affairs.

Then they could check off 16 adjectives that they believe describe God. They could use words like absolute, wrathful, forgiving, friendly, and distant.

After compiling all the information they came up with four viewpoints of God.

The authoritarian God.

According to the research on this those that hold this view believe that God is angry at the sin of humanity and is engaged in every person’s life and world affairs.

He is ready to throw the thunderbolt of judgment down on the unfaithful and the ungodly.

2. The benevolent God

They primarily see God as a forgiving God. More like the father who embraces the repentant prodigal son in the Bible. And 68% said that caring for the sick and needy ranks highest on the list of what it means to be a good person.

3. The critical God

This viewpoint of God was that He had a judgmental eye on the world. He is not going to intervene either to punish or to comfort. This group is less likely to go to church and they are significantly less likely to draw absolute moral lines on hot button issues such as abortion or gay marriage.

4. The distant God

This view see God as a cosmic force who set the world into motion and then left it spinning on its own. He really is not engaged in the affairs of man.

Which one best represents you?

I don’t know about you but I don’t like any of them. I think there are certain aspects of truth in some of the descriptions about how people see God.

But I think there is a fifth category that was not covered. And that is the Biblical God.

He is angry at the sin of humanity as those that believe in the so called authoritarian God but He is not ready to throw thunderbolts. If that was true nobody would be alive right now.

And He is kind and full of mercy and He does care about the sick and needy and He is interested in what happening in this world.

Numbers 6:24 'May the LORD bless you and protect you.

Numbers 6:25 May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you.

Numbers 6:26 May the LORD show you His favor and give you His peace.'

I believe that God loves to bless us. God loves to smile upon us. God loves to listen to us, protect us, and give us peace.

It is important how we view God because that will determine how we view life.

Our view of God will dictate how we live life. Decisions we make. In fact there is no area of our life that is not impacted by how we view God.

For instance, when crisis or problems come your way how you view God will determine how you react.

If you have a big God you are going to have small problems. But if you have big problems do you have a small God?

So if you see God in all of His glory and all of His power you will see things in their proper perspective.

So it comes down to this. It is all how you look at things.

In our text, this morning the Children of Israel had come to the very brink of the Promised Land at the point of entry.

They decide to send in 12 spies to check things out. So these 12 spies are exploring the land. And they come back with a report.

Numbers 13:27 This was their report to Moses: "We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.

Numbers 13:28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!

But drop down to verse 30 and this Caleb’s report:

Numbers 13:30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. "Let's go at once to take the land," he said. "We can certainly conquer it!"

This is crazy! We have two report completely difference.

And look at the results in verse 31:

Numbers 13:31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. "We can't go up against them! They are stronger than we are!"

Numbers 13:32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: "The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.

Numbers 13:33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that's what they thought, too!"

The other men who had explored the land started arguing with Caleb. They were saying We can’t go up against them, They are stronger than we are!

They started spread bad report to all the Israelites, that the land would devour them and the people in that land were giants, next to those giants were look like grasshoppers and that what they thought also. ( how did they know what they thought)

How quickly they have forgotten all that God had done. This is amazing here we have the majority report and we have minority report.

The majority report: They did not see God for who He is. They just saw problems. They saw obstacles, They saw challenges, giants, and defeat.

The very idea of going into the land terrified them. That is because they had a small God and that means they had big problems.

Here is the minority report: Joshua and Caleb. They saw God for who He is. They saw the challenges for what they were. They saw that God would give them the victory if they would obey Him.

It is all how you look at things.

Listen, there will always be people who have no vision. No faith. No interest in change.

People that want to live in the past. People that don’t want to take any step of faith. People that are very small in their thinking.

I read about some companies that missed some great opportunities over the years.

Back in 1878, there was some newfangled device that was called the telephone. Western Union had an opportunity to develop it but they had this internal memo that said, “The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device has no value to us.”

In 1936, the New York Times defined very strongly on this new technology that was called a rocket. They said the rocket will never leave the earth’s atmosphere.

Producer Darryl Zanuck said television won’t last very long because people will get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.

So you can see that people can be very limited in the way they see what can happen.

That was true here with Joshua and Caleb. They saw the challenges with eyes of faith. They saw what God could do.

So this is what I am saying we all need to take bold steps of faith. What are we so afraid of? I mean so what if it doesn’t work out exactly as you had hoped? So what if everything isn’t a complete success.

We learn lessons even from those partial failures and even those outright failures.

This is what I want you to look at: The children of Israel, they were on the edge of the promised land. And I know things are big. It is Texas sized. Everything is bigger. The people seem bigger. The obstacles are bigger. But check this out:

The fruit was bigger. The cluster of grapes was so huge Caleb and Joshua had to carry them on their shoulders to bring them back.

I know the giants are big but check out the size of those grape.

It is the biggest grape ever. Let’s go for it.

But the people didn’t go: Why?Here somethings that will make a difference in our success in our walk of faith, and it all deals with “It’s all how you look at things!”

They focused their attention on the obstacles instead of the objective.

Numbers 13:28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!

When you fix your attention on the obstacles instead of the objective, then fear will always darken your faith.

This what happened to them. You see they were not looking at their problems in the light of God.

They were looking at God in the light of their problems.

2. When you allow fear to grip you everything is affected.

Numbers 14:2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. "If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!" they complained.

Numbers 14:3 "Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?"

What? Return to Egypt? Were they crazy? Fear can so paralyze you that you wish you were dead. That is what was happening to them.

Listen: Fear and trust cannot coexist. They don’t like to hang out with each other.

When fear comes out trust leaves. When trust comes in fear leaves. You decide what you want your life filled with Trust and faith or fear and worry.

I think sometimes when we face a little discomfort or a little hardship we just want to bale out.

But can I tell you: The Christian life is not a cakewalk. It is a conflict. It is not a playground. It is a battleground.

It comes down to this: If you want to be a man or woman of God put your armor on and start marching.

Do we have a big God or a small god? It’s all how you look at things!

3. God does not want us to run from our giants but attack them.

Now I want you to understand something, when we say giants in the land don’t think of Jack in the beanstalk. It just meant the guys were big. That is all.

It would be like me playing against LeBron James. We forget there’s advantage of being small you can run between their legs.

This is what Joshua and Caleb said:

Numbers 14:9 Do not rebel against the LORD, and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the LORD is with us! Don't be afraid of them!"

One with God is a majority.

Romans 8:31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

We all have giants that we face in life. When I say a giant I mean whatever we are dealing with: To some it might be— fear, you are worried and even crippled by this fear. For another it might be some kind of personal sin, that you ask God to forgive and forgive you and it keep come back.

For some it might be addiction, envy or gluttony . the list goes on and one.

Today, you might be in the wilderness and looking at the entry point of the promised land, but there a giant.

I want you to fast forward with me to:

Joshua 14:6 A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, "Remember what the LORD said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea.

Joshua 14:7 I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the LORD, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report,

Joshua 14:8 but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God.

Joshua 14:9 So that day Moses solemnly promised me, 'The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God.'

Joshua 14:10 "Now, as you can see, the LORD has kept me alive and well as He promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old.

Joshua 14:11 I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then.

Caleb was such a cool guy. 85 years old. He says so give me this mountain.

When Joshua gave Caleb a little portion of the land he had to drive the inhabitant out. This 85 year old man was completely successful.

What was his secret> Caleb wholly followed the Lord his God. He gave 100% to God.

The Bible say to be holy as He is holy. Right. H-O-L-Y— HOLY.

If you want to live holy live wholly. If you want to be holy person, live a wholly committed life to Christ. Don’t give Jesus 20%,40%, 80% but give Him 100%.

Caleb never left his first love. He never lost his first strength. He saw God for who He was.

How do you see God right now? If you see God for who He is you will see this world for what it is. You will see your challenges for what they are.

This is the thing. It is all how you look at things.