They say…they think…they feel! Who are they?
There are the ‘good they’ who are encouraging and ‘needs’ based. These are the people who seek God and serve others. When God is doing something in our lives, we are usually surrounded by the ‘good they’.
The ‘bad they’ are always lurking around, questioning, name-calling, accusing, and bad mouthing. These people tend to be ‘wants’ based and all about what suits them, what they want and how easy it is to get. They tend to be ‘nay-sayers’ when we are obedient to God’s call. If not careful, we can allow them to take our focus off the Godman and onto our own abilities.
When the Israelites returned to their homeland after being held in captivity by the Babylonians, Nehemiah heard the temple and walls surrounding the city were in rumbles. He grieved and cried out to God for days. God placed a desire in Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the wall so they could worship and live in safety and peace.
While Nehemiah was up on the ladder building the wall, the ‘bad they’ were coming around, telling him he was wrong and that his efforts were pointless. Nehemiah just kept working. He didn’t come down off the ladder to go toe to toe with them, or sit down with them to make them understand why he was doing it. He kept his focus on God, not on man. He just kept working and building until it was
done.
God promised the Jews the land of Canaan and told them to go and take it. The ‘bad they’ were questioning and doubting God’s promise which caused Moses to take his eyes off of God. Rather than trusting and obeying God, Moses allowed man’s fear to overrule God’s direction and he sent twelve spies to check things out to determine if they could take it. There was no military information needed as God had already promised them victory, but their doubt won out.
After 40 days, the twelve came back to their people to report what they had found. Only Joshua and Caleb focused on the large and beautiful fruit and called it the land of milk and honey. They said, “Let us go now. We are well able to overtake it.” The other ten focused on the giant men of the land and their fear of them saying they were like grasshoppers in comparison. They even said it was “a land that devours its’ inhabitants”.
They say…they think…they feel!
The “good they.”
The “bad they.”
Who will you choose to listen to?
