Numbers 13:31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

Twelve people went to spy on the occupied land that the Lord promised the Israelites. Ten of the twelve spies returned with an evil or negative report by explaining the land was filled with giants and they were too small to overtake them. Based on their negative report, those ten individuals caused millions of Israelites to grumble and complain.

We see that in certain settings today. If a group of individuals dislike a certain supervisor at work, that negativity can cause other people, who haven’t even dealt with that supervisor, to dislike that supervisor. Another example is if a person didn’t like how the Pastor did a certain thing at church, that person may have the tendency to tell the story of what the Pastor did with a negative twist.

What we can learn from the Israelites is spreading negativity is considered evil in the eyes of God. Their negativity caused the majority of the Israelites not to enter the promised land. We can’t expect to receive the promises of God and be negative or spread negativity at the same time.

Let’s speak life, find the positive, and if we don’t have anything good to say, keep silent.