WE SAW GIANTS
“We were like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in their sight.” – Numbers 13:33b
An essential element in preparing for a basketball game is scouting the enemy. Great care must be taken to make sure the coaches don’t give the opponent the status of a giant, so the truly beatable opponent does not become an unbeatable giant in their player’s minds.
I remember a coach telling his team, “This is the best team you will face all year. You have to play a perfect game to win.”
Well good luck being perfect team, your coach just convinced you that you are grasshoppers!
The reality is, lower-rated teams may see themselves as grasshoppers.
While higher-rated teams too often see their appointed challenger as grasshoppers. Overconfidence can be as deadly as “grasshopperitis.”
Upsets happen when less talented teams refuse to accept grasshopper status.
They find their giants deep in their being while the highly favored team makes the costly mistake of treating their opponent lightly. They make the fatal mistake of thinking they’re playing against grasshoppers.
If you follow Joshua’s life story in Numbers 13 and Joshua 1, you will clearly read that Joshua saw his army as giants, not grasshoppers.
Be strong and courageous was Joshua’s battle cry. St. Paul had it figured out, “I can do all things who strengthens me.”
Some present-day challenges:
Bullies; being labeled too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, too poor, too ugly, too old, too dumb; you name it, it brings the grasshopper out in nearly all of us.
Pandemics; can bring out the grasshopper in entire nations.
Over a lifetime and long term battle with cancer, I have tried more ways than I can count to beat the grasshoppers who have robbed me of daily victory in my life.
This is the way I have learned to find the giant in me. This is how to chase the grasshoppers away. The key is to trust the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul! Choose to win. Joshua said boldly, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”
The thing about grasshoppers is; they can be voracious. Many years ago Spokane had a grasshopper attack. They leveled my wife Susie’s spectacular vegetable garden.
I know with all my heart the Lord is my Shepherd and He empowers me to walk through the Valley of the shadow of death. I encourage you to memorize Psalm 23.
Practice moment by moment the big five:
1. God is who he says he is.
2. God does what he says he will do.
3. I am who God says I am, not who I think I am.
4. I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.
5. God’s word is alive and active in me, I am believing God
I found my Giant and His name is Jesus; the King of Kings.
