Shelach

When the spies brought back their dismal report, one of the things they said to disparage the land was ארץ אכלת יושביה הוא, it's a land that devours its inhabitants.
Rashi quotes the gemara in Sota that relates Hashem's comment on that. Hashem said, I intended for their good & they intended for bad. I made it that wherever the spies went they found the inhabitants busy burying their dead so that they would be distracted with mourning & pay no attention to the spies. They on the other hand used this against the land saying it's a land that devours its inhabitants.

You can ask that since all they saw was death around them, what were they to think? Why is this held against them?
Answers הגר"י קניבסקי that if they would have stopped & thought for a minute, they would have realized it was all for them; Hashem was manipulating events to give them cover. Had they realized that, it could have inspired them to look for the good. Instead, they paid no attention to the fact that had this been a normal everyday occurrence, the whole town wouldn't have been busy with the burials like they were now. When something happens all the time, no matter how bad, people get used to it. If it were indeed a common occurrence, just the families would have been taking care of their dead not the whole town. Obviously this was orchestrated for them, however, unfortunately their mindset was to see only the bad.

Another one of the things they said to disparage the land was about the size of the people that lived there. They said that they were giants, ונהי בעינינו כחגבים וכן היינו בעיניהם, we were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes.
The ילקוט relates what Hashem said regarding that statement; "it's enough that you're like grasshoppers in your own eyes, however who told you that in their eyes you weren't like angels?"

This, says the Chafetz Chaim, is what happens when a person loses faith & doesn't feel like he has any self worth. Even if others would view him as an "angel" he who sees himself as a "grasshopper" will think that others view him like that as well & will project that lowliness, causing others to see him that way as well. People tend to perceive us as we perceive ourselves.

There's a story told about a tightrope walker who came to the city of Krasna & bragged that he could cross the river on a tightrope. He agreed to perform for the townspeople for one hundred ruble. Almost the whole town came to watch, including the Rabbi, רב חיים. The people gazed open mouthed at the amazing feat. Never had they seen such skill & fearlessness. ר' חיים also watched but seemed absorbed in his own thoughts. Afterwards his disciples came to him & asked, what where you thinking about while the acrobat was walking the tightrope? You looked lost in thought.

He replied, as I was watching him I thought to myself, here is a man who is willing to risk his life for one hundred ruble, but as important as the hundred ruble is to him he wasn't thinking about it as he crossed the river for had he stopped concentrating even for one second he would have ended up in the water. We have to learn from this man. Just as he was able to concentrate all his mental & physical powers for money, how much more so should we focus our energy & talents on Hashem.

This shows us how focused one has to be on the good. We must channel all our energy & thoughts to see that whatever Hashem is doing for us, its only for our benefit!