Caleb and Joshua did not focus on the negative. They focused on the positive.

Take your eyes away from the problem. By focusing on the negative and dwelling on the problem, the problem will seem to grow bigger and bigger. When this happened, fear began to take over instead of faith. Lack of faith in God is a sin. And fear is a torment of the mind (1 John 4:18).

Try this if you do not believe me. By just thinking about a problem you are facing at the moment, thinking how to solve it. As you try all possible ways to resolve the issue, you fail. Then you began to feel hopeless and lost your appetite to eat. You lost your mood to watch even your favourite television program. As the night draws to a close, you cannot sleep. The problem and the consequences begin to form into nightmares in your rest. The next day, you panic and try all means unless you feel totally frustrated and exhausted. Eventually, you go on your knees and ask God for help. Does this sound familiar to you?

Caleb and Joshua did not dwell all day and night on the negative reports. They looked at the grapes and the richness of the lands. When they looked beyond the negative reports, they began to see the opportunities and how their wanderings in the deserts would come to an end! When you choose to look at every problem, look at it and ponder on the good things that you can gain out of it. It’s the same as looking at a coin that has two sides to it - the head or the tail.

The bible tells us to “be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). Further down in verse 8, the bible tells us the next step to take. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,  whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” In other words, take your mind off the bad situation but look at it from another angle how you can make use of it to benefit you instead.