Negative people are tiring. There seems no end to their keen ability to see everything in the worst possible light. They are tiring and they are infectious. If you hang around negative people long enough you will begin to see your own perspective and assessment leaning in the same direction. It is difficult and tiresome to be around such people.
What happens, though, when they are in close proximity? What happens when their presence and positions on matters are unavoidable because they are members of your church, or your own family? What if they are co-workers or your boss? What if they are simply unavoidable? What do you do?
In the book of Numbers, we are told the story of the people of God going out to spy the land. Now, the important thing about this story is that the Lord told Israel that He would give them the land. They would have to contend with its inhabitants, but they would prevail because the Word of God is sure and certain. So, Moses sent a crew to spy out the land and here is how Numbers 13 records their brief assessment:
31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people,
land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a
land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And
there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to
ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
There it is! The majority of the people who went to spy out the land - the land the Lord promised to give them - came back with a bad report because the people in the land were numerous and strong. Their conclusion was the same as the song Michael Jackson sang as the scarecrow in the movie the Wiz, "You can't win." They came back with a bad report, but the bad report said more about their view of God than it did about the people in the land. Numbers 14:36 says,
36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the
congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—
When we bring bad news because we are trusting what we see and not the Lord's promises, we are not simply being negative, we are grumbling against God! The reason bringing this bad report is grumbling against negates the Lord’s trustworthiness and His power. When we concede defeat because we fear what we see this is a statement to God that we no longer believe His Word nor that He is able to do what He promised because our problem is just too big. That’s a scary place to be. But that what’s true in a bad report. It is grumbling against the Lord.
So, here is how I have decided to deal with negative people who bring bad reports: I reject their fearful assessment one hundred percent of the time. Fear is an understandable emotion but conceding because of fear is a rejection of the Lord. I have chosen in 2021 to believe the good report of the Lord and to reject the bad report of those who choose to trust their physical sight rather than their spiritual sight. Bad news, like negative people, is tiring. Bad news, like negative people is infectious. If we hang around people who are always seeing what can't be done or what is not possible because of their fear or inability to trust God we, too, will be caught up in the same grumbling.
So, here is how we deal with those who bring bad reports:
We tell them that our ears and hearts will no longer hear any bad reports and we stop them in their tracks when they part their lips to speak. It is not that I choose to act super spiritual but here is one thing that I know: God is bigger and greater than what I see, and I will never concede that. If, however, He chooses not to move in my favor, that's His business and I receive it as His will. But I will not live or listen to anyone whose bent is to bring bad reports. I will fight to trust the Lord even in the face of the impossible.
We Teach them about the greatness of God. The truth of the matter is that people who bring bad reports don’t have a life problem. They have a theological problem which is this: their god (lower case g intended) is too small. The response needed to a bearer of bad reports is not an argument and not even a disassociation with them. What is needed is their minds and hearts to be captivated by the God of the Bible - the Lord of the universe - the One who controls all things: giants in the land, cancer diagnosis, job loss, etc.
Don't leave the bringer of bad reports alone. They need your vision of this great God so that they can conclude, with the host of God's people, the resolve reflected in the song that includes these words:
"Whose report will you believe?
We will believe the report of the Lord