Grasshopper
Posted by Dion Todd July 24th, 2022 3,765 Views 0 Comments
Grasshopper from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.
The Israelites who marched out of Egypt had witnessed major miracles. They had seen the plagues swarming over the Egyptians while the Israelite houses were unaffected. When they came to the Red Sea, the water parted before them, and they walked across on the dry ground. When they were hungry, manna, literally bread from heaven, appeared around them. When they were thirsty, water flowed from rocks.
The Lord led them with a pillar of cloud during the day, which became a fire at night. He was taking them to the land He had promised to give to Abraham's decedents, the Promised Land.
They came to Paran and sent twelve scouts ahead to check out the area (click on image to enlarge) and collect some of the fruit there. They returned with a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it on a pole. It was indeed a good land.
They scouted the land from one end to the other for forty days, and no harm came to them. The future was bright. Yet, even though everything was as it should have been, a strange thing happened. Ten men who returned from the scouting party spread fear among the people.
(Numbers 13:27–28 NKJV) Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.
It wasn't the scout's job to determine if they were able to take the land, for the Lord had already given it to them. They had watched the Lord destroy the Egyptian army that was pursuing them and even sang songs about it. Up to this point, the Lord had done everything for them as if they were children. But now, it was time for them to grow up a little, and they would work together with the Lord. They would do the work, and He would back them up. Every spot of land they set their foot on would be given them, but what if they refused to go?
(Numbers 13:30–31 NKJV) Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we."
(Numbers 13:32–33 NKJV) And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
(Numbers 14:1–4 NKJV) So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
After all the incredible miracles they witnessed coming out of Egypt, they forgot about God altogether. They left the Lord out of the equation and compared their own feebleness against the giants they saw in the land. Without the Lord's help, they had a right to be scared. A group of former slaves carrying sticks and stones wouldn't be much of a threat to cities with walls fifty feet high and fifteen feet thick.
With Him, they were all powerful and could face anything. Without Him, they could do nothing. We know later that when they marched around Jericho seven times and shouted, the giant walls protecting the city collapsed. It is just as Jesus said:
(John 15:5 NKJV) “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
The Israelites felt like grasshoppers facing giants, but giving in to fear caused them to change from contenders to dead-enders. They gathered rocks to stone Moses and Aaron, and the Lord had to intervene. He told them, what you have spoken in My hearing, I will do to you.
Fear is a lack of trust that the Lord will take care of you. When young David stepped out to fight the giant Goliath, he certainly didn't leave God out of his equation.
(1 Samuel 17:45–46 NKJV) Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
Then David went and did exactly what he said. He slung the rock, but the Lord guided it straight into Goliath's big ol' head. You do the work, and He will back you up.
So you face a difficult challenge, and looking at it makes you feel overwhelmed. It's scary. You may even feel like a grasshopper in front of a giant. Yet, don't leave the Lord out of your equation. For 1 + 1 + Him = 1,000,000.
You can pray this with me if you like:
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for being there for me! Please forgive me for the times when I have not trusted You. Help me accomplish Your will on the Earth during my stay here. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!