Grasshoppers vs Giants

People of Hope Part 20: Joshua and Caleb
Monday devotions @Work 14 September 2020

Israel was on the brink of moving into the promised land. After decades of living in slavery, they finally arrived at this moment. They sent out spies to scout out the land, but ten of the twelve spies came back with a bad report. They said: “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 13:33)

The remaining two spies, Joshua and Caleb, however gave a different report. They said:  "Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” (Numbers 14:9)

How can people belonging to the same group, all of whom had just spent forty days scouting out the same promised land, seeing the same things, having the same experiences, have such vastly different opinions?

I believe the answer lies in what they believed. The ten spies saw themselves as grasshoppers and they believed the giants saw them like that too.  However, the real question would be – “What did they believe about their God?” Per implication they believed their God is a grasshopper as well. After all the miracles in Egypt, through the Red Sea and in the wilderness, their God was not big enough to fight the giants? This belief cost them forty years in the wilderness and a generation that died without seeing the promised land.

The truth is, we need to look at ourselves not in terms of our own strength, but in terms of the size of our God. Even though Israel were as grasshoppers measured against the size of the giants, the giants’ gods were as grasshoppers in the eyes of the God of Israel. In fact, He is so big that He thought nothing of fighting a giant through a grasshopper and He knew that He would be victorious. He just needed people to believe Him. He wanted them to see Him for Who He is and not look at their own strength and measure that against the size of a giant.

What is the giant in your and my life today? What do we believe about our God? Do we have a different spirit like Caleb, seeing into the spirit by faith to realize that God has already removed the protection of the giants? Do we measure Him against our own size, or do we see Him for Who He is – infinitely big enough to overcome a giant using a grasshopper?

Let us worship with Rend Collective - Every Giant will fall!
                              

©2020 Copyright HG Venter