Grasshopper Vision

"And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, 

which come of the giants: 

and we were in our own sight as 

GRASSHOPPERS!!

and so we were in their sight."

Numbers 13:33

If you were a grasshopper hopping around on the ground, people and trees would look HUGE. That is how our problems and situations in life become when we have 'grasshopper vision!!!' Everything is out of proportion and we become filled with anxieties and fears because our vision is so disproportionate!! 

I have been there. Have you??

When my children were all little, I was homeschooling them. There were many days when the tasks at hand were insurmountable and the word 'overwhelmed' became part of my vocabulary. I remember often wishing that I had someone to 'come along side' who would encourage me along the way. Often, God instead asks us to 'come along side' someone else, although we don't have everything together. 

This morning I was reading Numbers 13 and 14 again. Isn't it special how many times we can read a passage in the Bible, yet it is fresh each time we return to it?!

In Numbers 14:9 it reads: "Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear then not."

When the LORD wants to lead us in a certain direction and we are filled with fear and do not have the courage because of the 'giants' in our life, we are rebelling against the LORD. I don't think I have seen my fear and anxiety over 'things' as rebellion!! I should be trusting the Lord to meet my every need....and if I am not trusting...but I am worrying and fretting...it is rebellion!! I may be worried about the finances, or my children, whatever it is...I ought to be casting all my cares on Him, trusting Him. 

When the situations in our lives loom tall like a giant, it is too easy to forget the strength of the LORD and lose courage. It says in this passage that 'the LORD is with us!!" and "Fear them not." We aren't to fear our problems. 

Many of my years of homeschooling were hard. Just plain hard. I loved homeschooling and wouldn't have had it any other way. Whatever your situation may be with your husband, children, relatives, or ___________, you may find this to be the giant in your life. God wants to help you (and me) with our day-to-day giants.

BUT...we need to have faith....OR...

"And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation mightier than they."

"And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou, broughtest up this people in thy sight from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goeth before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud and in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night." (Numbers 14:11, 12)

We are not even a good testimony of what God is doing in our lives when we lose courage and fear!!

Too often I look at all the positive verses and although I read through everything, skip over in my mind the ones that bring consequences. I really think in our society today that we skip over the possibility of there being any consequences for our actions should we fail God. It is almost as if we think we can live our life any way that we want. I am not really talking about the big obvious sin that people can have in their lives. It is the seemingly smaller things. 

I have been asking the Lord to transform my thoughts, my thinking. Negative thoughts, discouraging thoughts, anxious thoughts, fretting thoughts, worried thoughts....all these thoughts!! I am asking the Lord to turn my thoughts into prayer, fervent prayer...prayer that blesses both others and myself (just by praising and having uplifting thoughts.) 

"The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression." (Numbers 14:18a)

The longsuffering and mercy of God when He forgives us is the blessing that we may receive when we trust and have faith in God. Our problems are smaller than giants to God. We need God's perspective on our situation(s) instead of the perspective of a grasshopper. Grasshopper vision is extremely limited as all a grasshopper can see is the ground!!

~Judith~

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