“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” Numbers 13:30-33.
Importance of good self image
Self image is the topic of the post on the blog ‘Thought for the day’ today. The way you see yourself and things you believe about yourself is very important. It does not mean you have to deceive yourself on who you really are or lie to yourself, but it means you should have a solid positive foundation for how you view yourself. It is far more important than the way others see you or the way they think about you. It does not mean you can be dishonest and not care about anything. By no means, it means you know who you are and are not controlled by opinions of others.
We look at the same things and see them differently
The episode from the Bible originates from the Old Testament when God sent twelve elders from the twelve tribes of Israel to inspect the land. If you read the whole episode from the 13th chapter of Numbers you will see how negative self image works and how seeing things in a positive light produces the opposite results.
All of the twelve people that were sent looked at the same things, but they saw different things. In this case this is not the beauty of different opinions that strikes us, but a shocking difference of attitudes that people have towards the same things. We know from the context that God had promised to give the land of Canaan to the children of Israel. There was no doubt about it. God was willing to do it and He was ready to do it. He proved that by doing tremendous miracles in Egypt and He was ready to do the same things in Canaan.
Do not look at your natural self
However, He expected faith from His people and that they have learned the lesson of trusting Him in Egypt and in the dessert. Unfortunately, only two people from the twelve sent brought a positive report. Yes, all admitted that the land was good, but only Caleb and Joshua were positive about taking the land. The remaining ten saw the situation through the eyes of fear. They looked only at their natural strength and in this aspect they were right. The inhabitants of the land were very strong and cities well defended. But did the God tell them that they had to fight with their own strength? No, He promised to go with them and defeat their enemies.
Learn to trust God
Unfortunately, most people from Israel had never learned the lesson of trusting God. That’s why their self image was pathetic. They saw themselves on their own, without God’s assistance and participation in their lives. That’s what injured their view of selves and confidence that they could go and conquer their land.
The same lesson applies to us. Do we see ourselves with God or without Him. It is difficult to be positive and have a sound optimistic self image without Him actively participating in our lives. When you know that He is for you and you have relationship with Him, your worth starts growing.
See yourself with God
Yes, cherishing positive thoughts and positive images and doing positive affirmations are part of the process of developing that positive view of selves, but the core of self worth really comes when we understand our Creator and relate to Him in a proper way. There are more things to be said on the subject and I hope to do it later by expanding the post. What I want to leave you today with is that when you are really with God and He is with you, the way you see yourself will be in a positive light and this will give you tremendous confidence about your life, career, family, relationships and future. God bless you in developing a proper self image.
See also: