Positive thinking is only slightly better than negative thinking if we still leave the Lord out of it.
In spite of Caleb’s equation for success (the people + God = victory), the first battle for Canaan had been lost. Israel had been defeated—without the enemy lifting a sword. How? It happened between their ears, on the battlefield of their minds. And so it is with us. Doubting God and His Word always leads to defeat. What should we do? “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2). “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim 1:7). Here we have a reminder of the importance of guarding our thoughts, and another example of God giving people what they foolishly desired. “If only we had died in this wilderness!” they cried (Num 14:2), and God replied, “I can arrange that!” But now one failure leads to another. The people will prove their equation correct: The people – God = defeat. Imagine, a life sentence of walking in circles in the desert till they died. For the 40 days of evidence the spies had seen in Canaan, they would have 40 years of wandering (Num 14:34). When the Lord told them they could have their way and return to the desert, on second thought, they decided to invade the land anyway. “Here we are,” they said (v 40). If we’re here anyway, we might as well attack! “This will not succeed,” said Moses. “Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you” (vv 41-42). Must we always learn the hard way? “Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah” (v 45). Our service for God will be fruitless, too, if we try to go it alone. On the other hand, “Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ” (2 Cor 2:14).