Grasshopper Thinking

Have you ever believed a lie long enough that you started to accept it as truth?

For those of us who have been sold the lie of comparison, you might start believing you aren’t good enough. God could literally tell you were designed for something with a stone tablet or in a burning bush, and we, like Moses, would still respond with, “I’m not good enough.”

For others, the lies may sound different.

But all of them attack our covenant identity in Christ.

The Israelites struggled with the same issue.

I was recently reading Numbers 13, and I was struck by a phrase: “we looked like grasshoppers.”

Let me back up.

In this chapter, Moses sends twelve men from Israel (one from each tribe) to check out the promised land. Their job was to scope it out and bring back some fruit and a report.

So they go and do just that. They find that the land is everything God said it would be. It really did “flow with milk and honey” (Numbers 13:27).

But that’s not where the report ended.

They went on to describe who lived there. Here’s what they said:

“We saw the N’filim, the descendants of ‘Anak, who was from the N’filim; to ourselves we looked like grasshoppers by comparison, and we looked that way to them too!”
— Numbers 13:33 (CJB)

Basically, they saw giants.

And out of the twelve men who went, only one stood up and said:

“We ought to go up immediately and take possession of it; there is no question that we can conquer it.”
— Numbers 13:30

The rest said:

“We can’t attack those people, because they are stronger than we are.”
— Numbers 13:31

Remember, they had already been freed from Egypt through God’s power. They had seen Him:

• Part the Red Sea

• Bring water from a rock

• Deliver manna to eat every morning

• Give them victory over the Amalekites in the wilderness
  

And yet here, they basically say,
 “We can’t beat the giants in front of us.”

I want to be mad at them.

But if I’m honest, I’ve done the same thing.

Egypt Was Gone… But Egypt Was Still in Them

Here’s the craziest part:

They were delivered from Egypt,
but Egypt hadn’t been removed from them.

Physically, they were no longer slaves.
But mentally, they still believed the lies that bound them in Egypt.

They believed they were small.
They believed they were fragile.
They believed they were unworthy and destined to be consumed.

They believed they were grasshoppers.

God didn’t call them that.
They called themselves that.
And then they projected it onto their enemies:

“We looked like grasshoppers… and we looked that way to them too.”

We do the same thing.

We all have the tendency to think like grasshoppers —
to remember who we were without God and forget who we are with Him.

It’s when God calls you to…

• Write a book… and you say, “I’m not good enough.”

• Start a new business… and you say, “I don’t know enough.”

• Start a ministry… and you say, “I’m not in a good place for that.”

• Move to a new place… and you say, “I could never afford that.”
  

We look at our calling, our assignment, our promised land and say:

“I could never do that.”

That’s grasshopper thinking.

We elevate the lies from our bondage above the truth of our God-given identity.
We carry Egypt inside our hearts and minds.

And here’s the thing…
We’re actually right about one part:

On our own, we can’t do it.

Abraham couldn’t birth a nation on his own.
Moses couldn’t lead that nation on his own.
The Israelites couldn’t defeat giants on their own.

But God can.

And you are in covenant with that God.

Which means He will give you everything you need to complete the assignment He’s given you.

From Grasshopper Thinking to Covenant Thinking

We need to replace grasshopper thinking
with covenant thinking.

You are a son or daughter of the King.

When the King gives you a command,
He also provides what you need to carry it out.

He proved that over and over to the Israelites in the wilderness.
And if you look closely, He’s been proving it over and over in your life too.

I honestly believe our wilderness seasons are mostly about this —
helping us learn to trust God and His covenant.

Those seasons are where He:

• builds our relationship with Him,

• gets Egypt out of us,

• and frees us from the bondage that lives between our ears.

The seasons we are praying to get out of
are often the seasons designed to get God into us.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to waste any season.
Each one is designed to prepare us, equip us, and remind us of our identity, authority, and intimacy with the King of Kings.

So if you’ve been struggling with grasshopper thoughts…

Remember who fights for you.
Remember who stands with you.
Remember who lives in you.

Remember your covenant identity.
And remember the God you serve.