Half Full Or Half Empty?

Half Full – Half Empty

(Written by Tim Klink of Prison Discipleship Ministry)

Have you ever heard the question, “Is the glass half full or half empty?” What makes the difference is the attitude one looks at the glass with. A thankful attitude will see it as half full and be thankful for what they have. A selfish attitude will see it as half empty, dwelling on what more they could have had. How often do we look at God’s blessings in the same way?

God had brought the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and was leading them to His promised land.

Numbers 13:1-2 

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. 

God is telling Moses to send out men to look over what He is about to give them, and to see that it is a great blessing from God. Moses obeyed what God had told him … kind of. As Moses was giving the men who were to go and see some word of instruction, look at the way he presented God’s orders to them.

Num 13:17-20

And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not.

That isn’t what God told them to look for. “Strong or weak, few or many” people? “Good or bad” land? “Tents or strongholds?” “Fat or lean land” and “wood ... or not?” Moses put his own strength and ability into what God had told him He was going to give them. What he was doing was planting doubt into the minds of the spies even before they left the camp.

Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who saw what God wanted them to see, and nothing else. The spies told the camp of the great challenges that were ahead of them, but Caleb told them of the great opportunity God was giving them. (Numbers 13:30)

God has a plan for you, and it is a great plan. Are you seeing it as a challenge or an opportunity? Challenges will keep you from God’s blessings, but opportunities will charge ahead with God’s joy.