In the Bible’s account of Israel’s journey to the promised land from slavery in Egypt, the people reached the bank of the Jordan River and prepared to enter and conquer their new home. Before entering, they sent in a dozen spies to check things out. When they returned, the report they gave was mixed. On one hand, the spies went on and on about how rich and bountiful the promised land was. They affirmed God’s promise that it was a land flowing with milk and honey. On the other hand, the majority of the spies reported that the inhabitants of the land were tough and unbeatable in battle.
They went so far as to warn that Israel would be like grasshoppers before the opposing army with no chance of survival. The exceptions to the majority were Caleb and Joshua, who assured the people that they could conquer it easily. In the end, the people couldn’t stop seeing themselves as grasshoppers before their enemies. Their refusal to obey out of fear resulted in their wandering the desert for an additional 40 years.
The crazy thing about their refusal is that throughout the story of the exodus up until this point, they had overcome so many difficult circumstances because God did the heavy lifting for them. God destroyed the Egyptian army, he fed them in the desert, gave them water, led them night and day, and aided them in battles. As long as God was fighting for them, they won. When they did things on their own, things didn’t go so well. They had seen time and again that all they had to do was let God fight for them and they were unbeatable. Still, they saw themselves as grasshoppers before giants and refused to obey.
One of the most interesting things about the history of Israel, from my perspective, is how often they act like people throughout history, including today. Perhaps this is the most common version of this story. They didn’t see the enemy for themselves. They just heard that they were too tough and gave up, despite the fact that they had seen God do amazing things over and over. Instead of trusting God to keep doing what He promises and demonstrated He was capable of, they looked at their own weakness and decided it was impossible to move forward. They complained and were afraid.
We see this today all the time. Whether it is the news, fear mongering, imminent disaster or people looking at circumstances in their own lives and falling apart because they don’t know how they will deal with the monsters in their future, there is no shortage of examples of people who follow God, but live in fear or depressed about tomorrow.
In my experience, this often has a lot to do with who we expect to deal with the situation we are facing. If God is going to take care of me, then all I can do is obey and trust Him. Throughout my own life, I have faced difficult and even disastrous situations that God has ultimately worked through or delivered me from. The odds always seemed hopeless when it was me who was going to do the fighting on my own behalf. Then it was easy to feel like a grasshopper. However, when I accept that I cannot do things on my own and that God intends me to trust Him to take care of it, whether or not I am a grasshopper is irrelevant. God is my champion and takes care of my problems. The main difference is looking at: God or me? In AA, they often say, “There is a God and I am not him, thank God.” The idea is that I can trust Him with my life and He does the work.
This sounds easy, and in some ways, it is. However, there is a part of us that wants to be in charge. We want to do the heavy lifting. Also, in the face of challenge or danger, remembering He is in charge is difficult. I would argue that God trains us throughout our lives. This happens through our prayer lives, time spent with Him, efforts to trust Him, and facing hardships with faith. It is difficult, but the end result is a clearer understanding that God is in charge and caring for us, even when we feel like grasshoppers.
