GRASSHOPPERS OR GIANT SLAYERS
Numbers 13:27-33
27 And they told him and said, We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey. And this is the fruit of it.
28 However, the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are walled, very great. And also we saw the children of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan.
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess it. For we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched to the sons of Israel, saying, The land through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eats up those who live in it. And all the people whom we saw in it were men of stature.
33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, of the giants. And we were in our own sight like grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
vs.27
“flows with milk and honey”
“Flows” means “to flow freely” or “to gush out.” It has always been God’s intention to bless His children abundantly. According to John 10:10 the abundant Christian life (not just barely getting by or doing the best we can) is normal Christianity.
“milk and honey”
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Honey… Natural Energy
According to the National Honey Board honey is a rich source of carbohydrates, providing 17 grams per tablespoon, which makes it ideal for your working muscles since carbohydrates are the primary fuel the body uses for energy. Carbohydrates are necessary in the diet to help maintain muscle glycogen, also known as stored carbohydrates, which are the most important fuel source for athletes to help them keep going. Whether you’re looking for an energy boost or just a sweet reward after a long workout, honey is a quick, easy, and delicious all-natural energy source!
Milk is one of the most nutrious foods we can consume and honey has many benefits as well as being a great energy booster. I think the Lord was trying to communicate that He was supplying His children with the most beneficial things they would need to defeat any enemy that rose against them. Everything they needed was there for the taking.
We will see later how their mindset kept them from possessing what God had already provided for their success.
- 28-30
However, the people that dwell in the land are strong”
“However” (“Nevertheless” in the KJV) means “cessation, that is, an end; no further; less than nothing; to disappear, cease: – be clean gone (at an end, brought to naught), fail.”
“people” means “a people (as a congregated unit); by implication to overshadow (by huddling together).”
“strong” means “strong, vehement, harsh: – fierce, + greedy, mighty, power, roughly, strong.”
“dwell” means “to sit down (specifically as judge, in ambush, in quiet); to settle.”
Here is how it seems to play out:
God pours out His abundant love on us to bring us to Himself. He promises to bless us abundantly. We start receiving His promises, start dreaming of the possibilities.
Just as God has a plan for us we would be naive to think our enemy doesn’t have a plan against us. His goal is to kill the dream, to bring to an end this new thinking.
Our enemy springs into action immediately to steal the Word God has given us (Mat 13:19 When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom and does not understand it then the wicked one comes and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown by the wayside). Surely if he would try this with those that don’t understand he would try the same tactic with those of us that have received God’s Word.
Satan uses other people in our lives to kill our dreams. The nay-sayers will always show up. Sometimes they will be the people closest to us. Many times they will huddle-up with other negative nay-sayers, get mean if necessary just to kill our dreams. These are the people that have “set down,” “settled in,” and will do anything against anyone that threatens their comfortable state of being (sounds like some Baptist I have known, like the Baptist I used to be). They are uncomfortable with our new way of thinking because they have settled for what life has dealt them. They are happy with the way things are and when we enter their world with a fresh new outlook they will judge us and even ambush any plans for success we might have.
“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess it. For we are well able to overcome it.”
God knows all about Satan and his tactics and has people lined up to keep us encouraged and focused on our dreams.
“Stilled” means “to hush.” Caleb was basically telling the people to hush with all the negative talk and remember what God told them to do and also reminded them that they were well able to do what God told them to do. A similar teaching is found in Psalm 46:10 and Isaiah 53:5:
Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Isaiah 53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed.
“Be still” means “slacken, cease, forsake, or let alone.” It also comes from the same Hebrew word for “healed” in Isaiah 53:5 that means to mend (by stitching), that is, (figuratively) to cure: – cure, (cause to) heal, physician, repair, thoroughly, make whole. It seems that Jesus is saying the same thing Caleb said, “hush and listen to what God is saying to you,” after all in Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus encourages us to come to Him when we find ourselves laboring, learn of Him and take His easy yoke rather than dealing with issues in our own strength.
In fact, if we are going to labor about anything we need to expend our efforts to enter His rest as described in Hebrews 4:11.
“before Moses”
“Moses” means “drawing out (of the water), that is, rescued.” In other words when the people saw Moses I’m sure they remembered God’s faithfulness to him throughout his life. Caleb could not have used a more effective visual aid. He was telling the people if we feel like we are in over our head our God will draw us out, He will rescue us. He supernaturally rescued Moses from Pharoah, called him to lead His people out of bondage, and never gave up on him, extending His mercy to Him forty years later to redirect him into His calling even though he took matters into his own hands at the beginning of his ministry.
A good question to ask ourselves is “Am I allowing anyone in my life to tell me “to hush” when fears assail and encourage me to stay with what God has told me to do?”
“Possess” means “to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication to seize, to rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin: – cast out, consume, destroy.” Let’s put this in the perspective of our sub-conscience mind. While we have the mind of Christ (1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”), we also have a sub-conscience mind that is constantly bringing up wrong programming from our past. Part of His mind toward us is to bless us abundantly (John 10:10) just as He gave the land flowing with milk and honey to the Jews.
Are we seizing old thought patterns (2nd Corintahians 10:5 “bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ”) driving them out and replacing them with God’s thoughts? Trying to get rid of old habits is a good thing but many times it just leads to frustration as we see the old spring up again. But when we have new positive habits to replace them they don’t have a chance to control us again. Satan will war constantly to keep us ensnared in our old way of thinking. He will use thoughts that are embedded in our sub-conscience minds and as one writer has said “our sub-conscience mind works voluntarily.”
As we face giants in our walk we need to keep our mind on the fact that God has abundance in store for us and not settle for what life deals us along the way.
One great way to accomplish this is to find His promises to us, commit them to memory, quote them to ourselves, out loud on a continuous basis (Romans 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”) and expect Him to come through for us at every turn.
- 31-33
The nay-sayers continue, they always will. They live by what they see and want everyone else to do the same. They love having others in their misery with them.
They saw the same land that Caleb saw.
The nay-sayers said it was a land that would consume them.
God said it was a land of abundance He had provided for them and to consume from it whatever they needed.
They saw the same giants. They said “we can’t do this.”
Why would one group say “we are well able” and another say “we are not able”?
Their own response to what they saw will answer that question:
“And we were in our own sight like grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
The single most important reason that held them back from God’s abundance was the way they saw themselves. The giants were not their problem, God knew about the giants before He ever sent them into the land. He saw them as giant slayers; they saw themselves as some defenseless bug that didn’t have a chance against a giant. God will never give us a task without providing every thing we need to accomplish it, no matter how challenging it gets.
Why do you think they used the word “grasshopper” to describe their self image?
“Grasshopper” means “locust.” When a locust swarm came through an area there was nothing but a wasteland left (Joel 2:3 “The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness”)
Satan loves to remind us of all the waste in our lives; wasted time, relationships. money, opportunities, etc. He loves to use it against us to keep us in guilt. Guilt is one of his most powerful motivators. The Pharisees of Jesus day used it to keep people in bondage (Matthew 23:4 “For they bind heavy and hard-to-carry burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders. But they will not move them with one of their fingers.”). They did it to look good in other men’s eyes (Mat 23:5 “But they do all their works in order to be seen of men”). Unfortunately, their relatives fill many pulpits and churches today.
Satan may have you convinced that you have wasted so much of your life that you will never be able to recover but our great and merciful God has a different report. When we are willing to turn from our way and take just a tiny step of faith toward Him (Matthew 17:20 “if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”) we find Him there to restore us to Himself and even restore our wasted years (Joel 2:25 “And I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the locust larvae, and the stripping locust, and the cutting locust, My great army which I sent among you”).
It doesn’t’ matter to Him how much of our life we have wasted, the only thing that matters to Him is that we come home to Him. He will clean us up, restore us, and love us freely.
A far cry from a teaching I grew up with that said “Well you made your own bed, now you’ve got to sleep in it.” God says “Sure, you made your own bed, but I’m here to help you get out of it and rise to heights you’ve never dreamed possible.”
I believe you have taken that tiny step of faith by being here today or by reading this. God always honors that kind of faith, He even gives everyone the faith to trust Him (Romans 12:3 “But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith”).
And, we are not in this battle alone. Unlike the Pharisees that heaped burdens on men, God has given us each other to help bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:1-2 “Brothers, if a man is overtaken in a fault, you the spiritual ones restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the Law of Christ”).
He has also assigned angels to minister to us along the way (Heb 1:13-14 “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”)
But, we always have a choice, Gal 1:6-10:
6 I marvel that you so soon are being moved away from Him who called you into the grace of Christ, to another gospel,
7 which is not another, but some are troubling you, and desiring to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from Heaven preach a gospel to you beside what we preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches a gospel to you beside what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For now do I persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
We can always choose to believe God’s report.
We do not have to settle for what life deals us (Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”).
We can choose to surround ourselves with positive people (well able) that will pray for and encourage us in our journey.