Grasshopper Mentality

Never let life’s giants become greater than God.

“To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.”
Isaiah 40:18
 
“I don’t tell God how big the ‘giants’ are,
I tell the ‘giants’ how big God is.”
Anonymous

Too often, we cause our own downfall. More often than not, we are the architects of our own demise. The path to victory is before us, but how often do we choose a lesser one? God has blessed us with everything we need for a victorious life, yet we often see ourselves as underdogs. Today, I’m reflecting on the story of Israel at the edge of the Promised Land – the choice Moses and his leadership faced was whether the giants before them were bigger than the God who goes with them. The road to victory was before them, how would they respond? As followers of Jesus, what lessons can we draw from this story and Israel’s response?
 
Let me set the scene. After God brought the ten plagues upon Egypt, the nation of Israel was freed from 400 years of slavery. They fled to the Red Sea, but Egypt’s Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army to recapture them. God miraculously parted the waters of the Red Sea, allowing Israel to escape, and then closed the waters over the Egyptian army. At the beginning of Israel’s Exodus, God’s promised to that He would go before them to Canaan (the Promised Land), protecting and providing for them (Exodus 14:13-14). After crossing the Red Sea, Israel claimed to trust God and sang songs of His sovereignty and His power to defend them against all their enemies (Exodus 15). They then witnessed God miraculously provide for their basic needs and protect them from their foes in the wilderness.
 
Moses then led Israel to the doorstep of the Promised Land. He sent in twelve scouts to explore the land. Forty days later, they return, all reporting a land of abundance, ten however bring a warning that the giants inhabiting the land were too strong. Two scouts (Joshua and Caleb) bring a different report stating that Israel should enter into the land, trusting God to defend them. All ten scouts claimed that the cities and fortifications of the land were powerful and the inhabitants of Canaan were strong that they were giants! However, ten scouts testified that the inhabitants of Canaan were too strong and that the people of Israel were grasshoppers compared to them. Joshua and Caleb declared that despite this sobering report, Israel could conquer Canaan: “Do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them” (Numbers 14:9). Scripture records that the Israelites grumbled, doubted, questioned and demonstrated a failure of faith in God. Isreal ended up doubting God and his promises. As a result, God subjected them to forty years of wandering in the wilderness for their lack of faith (Numbers 14:33). It is interesting that the number “forty” in the Old Testament represents both testing and judgment. Israel failed the test and now reaped the judgment.
 
As followers of Jesus, we will encounter ‘giants’ throughout our journey as disciples; they may have different names, but all are forms of testing. They will challenge our faith in God's sovereignty and promises. I encourage you to learn from Israel's mistakes; choices that led to them to fail their testing and reap severe consequences. The following are some of those choices. Israel focused on:

• the potential loss rather than the promised gain,
• the opposition rather than the opportunity,
• fear rather than faith,
• perceived current weaknesses rather than the historic wins (e.g. plagues against Egypt, Red Sea crossing),
• impossibility rather than possibility,
•  the natural (what was seen) rather than the supernatural (what was unseen) and,
• going it alone rather than going with God,

In short, they developed a grasshopper mentality. A grasshopper mentality is a debilitating mindset characterized by feelings of inferiority, limitation, fear and insecurity. Individuals with a grasshopper mentality view themselves as small, weak, alone, timid, and, on every level, incompetent.
 
Friends, have the courage and faith of the two scouts (Joshua and Caleb) who urged Israel to trust God and his promises, and to confront the giants in the land. They understood that God was with them and for them. They understood in advance what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome hundreds of years later: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

 "Your actions will always follow your beliefs."
Larry Childers