Ever notice how two people can look at the same thing and see something completely different? Caught a song on the radio last night that perfectly illustrates the point, “According to You” by Australian singer/guitarist Orianthi:

I’m stupid
I’m useless
I can’t do anything right

According to you
I’m difficult
Hard to please
Forever changing my mind
I’m a mess in a dress
Can’t show up on time
Even if it would save my life
According to you
According to you

But according to him
I’m beautiful, incredible
He can’t get me out of his head
According to him
I’m funny, irresistible
Everything he ever wanted
Everything is opposite

One person, two perceptions.

Negative perception can distort truth and destroy our hopes – if we let it.

In the book of Numbers, Moses sent 12 men to explore the land God had promised. Two returned to describe a place flowing with milk and honey. The other 10 gave a terrifying report of a land of giants that “devours those living in it.”

The negative view won out; and a generation dropped dead in the desert before the survivors were ready to take the land.

We have to be careful whose view we let define us. David’s family saw him as a childish sheep keeper. God saw a future king. Joseph’s brothers saw a boastful daddy’s boy. God saw a future gifted administrator who would govern with wisdom and integrity.

Isaiah wrote that man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.  Whose report will you believe?