The promise of God was clear. The faith to claim it was weak. Sound familiar?
God has made many precious promises to His people, but we rarely walk in the strength of sheer belief. We get stuck in the natural – what we can experience with our five senses – rather than clinging to the greater reality of the supernatural. After all, “what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3, ESV). The obvious implication is that the invisible – the Word of God that created the universe – is infinitely more trustworthy than what was created. I can bank on God’s Word more than anything else in this vast collection of galaxies.
Enter grasshoppers. Yes, of all the unique illustrations to keep our faith on track, grasshoppers are easy to remember. Let’s explore what these little insects have to do with trusting in our mighty God.
The glorious promise God made to His people was repeated over and over to them. And it is an oath that we still wait to see unreservedly fulfilled at the return of Christ. Hear it succinctly in Exodus 6:7-8 (ESV, emphasis mine) in the response God gives to the Israelites regarding their desperate cry for deliverance from Egypt: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.”
There you have it. Straightforward. Unequivocal. God’s people were to be not only brought into the Canaan land, but they were surely to take possession of it. In fact, when the Lord tells Moses to send spies into that enemy territory to observe the land of Canaan they are soon to inherit, He calls it the land “which I am giving to the people of Israel” (Numbers 13:2, ESV). We see unquestionably that the Creator, the Ruler of the universe, has given Canaan to His people. It’s a guarantee. Why then, the disbelief? The majority of the spies sent by Moses come back with this report: “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there” (Numbers 13:27-28, ESV, emphasis mine). Pretty negative assessment in light of the plain vow of God, right? They basically said, “The land is good like God said, but the enemies are strong and very tall like giants, and the cities are huge and well-protected. We don’t stand a chance.”
When Caleb, one of the spies and a man of faith, intervened by proclaiming, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30, ESV), the other spies quickly responded, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are … and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (Numbers 13:31, 33 ESV, emphasis mine). May we focus for a moment on that particular statement, because it summarizes much of my problem and yours in a memorable way? The bottom line was that God made a promise, and His people refused to see things from His true viewpoint instead of their own, skewed perspective. They felt so small and weak compared to the enemy (like grasshoppers to giants), and they, therefore, assumed that is how insignificant they also appeared to the enemy.
I often feel like a grasshopper – skittish and tiny – ready to jump at the step of a larger creature. And, sadly, I frequently assume that I really do seem like a grasshopper compared to the enemy of my soul. I know the promises of God, but I feel miniscule compared to the enormity of the problem in front of me. Do you?
Here is the answer for our “grasshopper complex.” When we ourselves feel like grasshoppers compared to the enemy – despite the clear promise of God – we need to be firmly reminded of who the grasshoppers really are – EVERYONE BUT GOD! Yep! Wrong perspective is feeling like a grasshopper compared to the difficulty standing in your way. Right perspective is understanding that everyone and everything shrinks to grasshopper status before God!
The Bible declares, “Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings prices to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.” (Isaiah 40:21-23, ESV, emphasis mine)
And there it is spelled out for us. It is wrong for me to feel like a grasshopper compared to my challenge or my enemy, because they are as grasshoppers too; it is right for me to feel like a grasshopper before God, because He is infinitely more strong than me. BUT, He is also infinitely more powerful than the problem and the enemy! The difference between me as a grasshopper and the enemy as a grasshopper is that THIS grasshopper has the promise of God on my side. I belong to Him, and He cares for me, and He cannot go against His own Word.
The unbelieving spies in the days of Moses never set foot in the Canaan Land. But the two who believed in the seeming impossible promise of God – the two who had the proper grasshopper perspective – they entered the land. No wonder it was called the “Promised Land.” It was reserved for those who would take God at His powerful, unseen – but real – Word. It belonged to the people who believed that they were only grasshoppers when compared to God, and not when compared to the enemy. It was given to people who believed that they were protected and empowered by a God at whose feet every enemy power and problem will jump away like jittery grasshoppers.
Will you claim the Promised Land with me? Can we please enter in?