Say negative and die or Say positive and live.

Negative people bring positive people down. It’s always a drag to be stuck near a Debbie Downer (Debbie Downer, is a slang phrase which refers to someone who frequently adds bad news and negative feelings to a gathering, thus bringing down the mood of everyone around them). Here are two examples from the Bible showing outcomes related to negative and positive attitude.

The Lord said to Moses, “Send men to explore Canaan, which I’m giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of their ancestors’ tribes.”

 So at the Lord’s command, Moses sent these men from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. (Numbers 13:1-3)

But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us!” So they began to spread lies among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored is one that devours those who live there. All the people we saw there are very tall. We saw Nephilim there. (The descendants of Anak are Nephilim.) We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.”(Numbers 13:31-33)

Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night. They complained to Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died in Egypt or this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land—just to have us die in battle? Our wives and children will be taken as prisoners of war! Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”(Numbers 14:1-4)

In these scriptures, we can see a small group of people spreading the negative news that impacted the entire Israeli community and triggered the Lord’s anger. In the camp of Israel, unbelief and discouragement spread rapidly from heart to heart and this led to an entire nation weeping over a plight. They blamed God instead of admitting their own failings. They went further on and decided to choose a new leader and return to Egypt. This was a rebellion against the will of God.

When the child of God is in the will of God, there is no place for complaining, even if the circumstances are difficult. The will of God will never lead us where the grace of God can’t provide for us or the power of God protect us. If our daily prayer is, “Thy will be done,” and if we walk in obedience to God’s will, then what is there to complain about? A complaining spirit is evidence of an ungrateful heart and an unsurrendered will. By our grumbling, we’re daring to say that we know more than God does about what’s best for His people! “Do everything without complaining or arguing”. (Phil. 2:14)

There were four men of faith in the Israeli camp Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua – and they tried to change the situation. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and interceded with God, something they would do often in the years ahead, but Caleb and Joshua spoke to the people and assured them that the Israeli army could easily take the land because God was with them.

None of the rebellious people were able to enter into the Promised Land and perished in the desert.   

Instead of saying negative and dying in the desert, say positive words and live. Here is the incident of a positive attitude from the bible.

David told the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have insulted. Today the Lord will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head. And this day I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals. The whole world will know that Israel has a God. Then everyone gathered here will know that the Lord can save without sword or spear, because the Lord determines every battle’s outcome. He will hand all of you over to us.” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

In these words, we can see the positive attitude of David. The words he uttered that day literally happened in his life and entire Israel benefited because of that.

The very weapon that David used was a sling - a shepherd’s weapon, almost the toy of a child, and yet God used it to defeat the giant and rout the Philistine army. When Goliath saw a lad coming with a sling in one hand and a staff in the other, he laughed at him. “Am I a dog that you come at me with a stick”? But David announced that his real power was in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the name that Goliath and the Philistines had insulted. David wanted the whole assembly – Israel and the Philistines to know that the Lord doesn’t need swords and spears but can deliver His people in His own way through the humblest of means. No wonder David and Jonathan became such fast friend, for they both had faith in the Almighty God and wanted to fight His battles to glorify Him.

So, say positive and let us build up our families and communities for the Lord.