Here’s my Deep Biblical Thought for the Day. (Not implying or promising that there will be another one tomorrow.)
Numbers 13 tells how the spies coming back from spying out the land of Canaan gave a negative report, saying sure, the fruit in the land is nice, especially with all the milk and honey to go with it, but there are walled cities and giants and really scary stuff there, so nope, we like the desert.
We get down to Numbers 13:33 (NLT) and it says:
“We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
Now somehow I doubt they interviewed the giants, saying, “So, Mr Really Big Guy, what DO I look like to you?”
“Um, you’re a wee little weakling, so if I had to pick, I’d say you look like…um…a grasshopper. Yeah, that’s about right. A grasshopper.”
“Not a lion or a bear or at least a camel?”
“Nope. A grasshopper captures it perfectly.”
“Okay! Very interesting. This confirms my suspicions. Thank you for your time.”
No, the Israelites saw themselves a certain way and assumed that everyone else saw them that way too.
This is a common mistake we all make. How can we not? We only have our own perspective.
But how we see things often isn’t the truth.
After a period of wandering around the desert waiting for time to pass and people to die (now isn’t THAT a cheery thought?) they again come to Canaan and again send spies (remember Rahab?) and this time they decide the milk and honey and grapes are worth the effort and decide to invade.
Rahab tells the 2nd set of spies in Joshua 2:9-11:
“I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.
Everyone in the land is living in terror. Their hearts have melted in fear. That doesn’t sound very grasshopper-y
And then in Joshua 5:1 we are told:
When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear because of them.
And we find this in Joshua 6:1 (NLT):
Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in.
You don’t bring down the gates if you see your invaders as grasshoppers, now, do you? No. You shut the gates because you know you are in danger.
So we see the truth was that they were NOT seen as grasshoppers. All of Canaan was afraid of them. Why? Because they were a lot stronger than they thought. And they had a really big God was with them, which always makes all the difference anyway, even when we ARE as weak as grasshoppers.
So what is there in MY life that I’m not seeing correctly? What fault or past happening or private thing do I see as taking me out of the game when in actuality it is a tiny speck of no consequence? What area do I see as a weakness when actually it’s a strength? And even if my problems and weaknesses and grasshopper-ness IS true, I have a mighty God who cannot lose.
So take a moment, or a day, or a lifetime, to try to reassess areas in your life were you think you are tiny, where you think OTHERS think you are tiny. Perhaps that isn’t true at all. Especially with the help of a God who parts the waters for you to pass over rivers and seas without even getting your feet wet.