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Looking Through a Magnifying Glass
Deuteronomy 1:28
"Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there."
I remember reading books years ago about detectives using magnifying glasses to help them investigate a clue. The reason they would use a magnifying glass is because it would help them see things that they could not see very well with the naked eye. The magnifying glass magnifies the object that it is on so that it can be seen distinctly and clearly.
The children of Israel made the mistake of looking at life through a mental magnifying glass. When the ten spies went to spy the land of Canaan, they should have laid the mental magnifying glass down so they could see the whole picture. Instead, they used their mental magnifying glass when they said, "The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there." If they would have laid the magnifying glass down, they would have seen a God Who was bigger than those giants, they would have seen a land that flowed with milk and honey, and they would have seen that the giants and walls were a small part of the whole picture. Because they used a mental magnifying glass to look at Canaan, they missed the great opportunity to go into the land God promised them.
You must be careful about using a magnifying glass to look at situations and relationships in your life. No, you may not physically pick up a magnifying glass to look at these, but mentally you have your magnifying glass out inspecting insignificant things that make no impact on the whole picture of the situation or relationship. Many people blow things way out of proportion because they have magnified one little thing in a situation or relationship instead of looking at the whole picture.
Be careful about looking at your relationships through a magnifying glass. You will destroy your marriage and family if you magnify every little situation. Many marriages and families could be much happier if people would look at the whole relationship. Instead, many will destroy their relationship with their parents, children or spouse because they magnify one little thing that they don't like. Lay down your magnifying glass in your relationships and look at the whole picture to get an honest view of the great relationships you have.
Furthermore, don't look at any one situation in your life with a magnifying glass. Often we have one bad situation in life and we look at it through a mental magnifying glass. We make the situation worse because we magnify it instead of looking at the whole picture. Christian, when you look at life as a whole, you will see that your one bad situation is simply a small part of a larger more beautiful picture. Don't ruin the picture that God has painted in your life because you look at it with a magnifying glass.
When you look at these things with a magnifying glass you magnify things that are a small part of the whole picture of your life or relationship. Not only are they a small part, but they are truthfully an insignificant part of that picture. Be careful about letting the small insignificant things in life and relationships ruin your whole picture. When you are tempted to use your mental magnifying glass, step back and look at the whole picture. By doing this you will keep the beautiful picture of your life and relationships in tact.