read more, Scripture: Sermons about Grasshoppers - SermonCentral.com Charlie brown, I read this week of some fears that Psalm 73 is one of those gritty psalms. Indeed, we need words of life. Those big people in Canaan did not say to the spies, "Hey, you little fellows look like grasshoppers to us.". After an eleven day journey from Sinai, they find themselves here at the wilderness of Paran, Kadesh Barnea. milk, baby food, bath tub, diapers, medicine, toys, etc. The land that God promised them the land and they only had to go and process it. It never is as we sit down to open Your Word. Like Grasshoppers. INTRODUCTION: Many times circumstances seem overwhelming like grasshoppers, while at the same time we feel as helpless as a muffin (barley cake). I assume that this is something like one meaning of the English idiom, to eat them alive to decimate them. We despise Him. Faithlife Sermons is now Logos Sermons. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of PADI Save Our Ocean Pledge, Aliza Licht on being the Chief Brand Officer of YOU, Where To Go Next? Grapes, Giants, Grasshoppers and God Numbers 13:17-13:33 We nourish our faith. 23But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean. Are we kind? They had a "grasshopper mentality.". JESUS WANTS US TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AND BE HIS FRIEND SO WE CAN BE LIKE HIM. God is not good. Judges 7:8-14 W. A. Criswell Sermon Library | I Feel Inferior, What Shall I Do? God is your refuge David is mining Gods truth to discover how to understand the world he finds himself living in. 1. Perhaps they acted like TOPIC: The Mountain Top God uses trials, as you know, and hardships in our lives for many things; things really too numerous to mention. ( Someone bigger than what is considered GOD WANTS US TO PRAY AND THEN SEE OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED. When the spies say, and so we were in their eyes as well, the Kotzker replies: Whats with this?!?!? Its interesting to see Gods response to the unbelief of His people. Therefore honor God with your body. Those are promises, and there are hundreds and hundreds of other promises that God has made. There is one little, ruddy-faced boy who has the blessing and power of God on him and he says, "I'll lick that big giant. Surrounded by injustice, actual and threatened, in these terrible times, you may wonder why you should spend even a moment of your time on this single family. Being part of something larger and lasting, McCarthy extols ties at Knesset, vows full support for Israeli security against Iran, White House reiterates Netanyahu to get invite but visit not currently planned, Levin accuses US administration of cooperating with judicial overhaul opponents, Gantz: No progress in talks with government on judicial reform compromise, Report: Israel got intel on Irans secret nuclear weapons program from executed spy, TA police chief refuses to discuss transfer with commissioner: An invalid procedure. Accomplish all that You intend with Your Word this day as we make our prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus, our Shepherd, our Elder Brother, our Savior. their childs preschool education, 8-But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died They sent spies into the land to check it out. On my reading, whats significant about them is not that they are small and insignificant in comparison to the natives, but that they can ravage a land. The twelve spies whom Moses sent in to report on the Promised Land saw the same things. "There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight" (Numbers 13:33). If you would open your Bibles to Numbers chapter 13. Well, were not standing before the land but were standing before an unknown year. He can preach sermons by the yard . ASV. We need a new language. With God at our side, life as a grasshopper in His care is good. Grasshoppers can eat half their body weight in a day. Monday, 09 January 2023 23:21. The blind Master Po (Keye Luke) calls his young student "GRASSHOPPER" to "EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED". Overcoming Grasshopper Mentality - Faithlife Sermons We also invite you to comment below. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranatesand figs. In fact, if we humans could jump like they do, we could jump the length of a football field. One more word about being a doubt-caster. This transcribed message has been lightly edited and formatted for the Web site. They were spread all over the land and could not have easily or quickly come together. The naysayers focused on what was seen instead of the One who was allowing them to see. Some of you have been wandering in your own wilderness for a long time. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan., Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it., But the men who had gone up with him said, We cant attack those people; they are stronger than we are. And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. Listen to this from Hebrews chapter 10. His master is blind. What does the passage tell us about faith? He is Creator, Sustainer, Omnipotent and head over heels in love with you! And I would call us to examine our hearts today to know that indeed we trust none other save Christ. What year was this posted? It was a theme last week too, when the Israelites complain about manna and are given a nauseating over-supply of quails, and it will return next week, when the earth opens its mouth and swallows the rebellious Korach and his band. All rights reserved. The reality of time as God has created it will propel us forward into 2020, whether we want it to or not. We see obstacles; we see challenges. But take heart! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Note how the ten spies with their bad report turn the heart of the whole nation The land devours its inhabitants! Please add your name to the petition/email campaign to protect the Sumarins here. They said, The land we explored devoursits inhabitants. Numbers 13:33 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org He is the only hope we have to be right with God, to be reconciled to Him, to be adopted by Him as His sons and daughters. 21Throughout the generations to comeyou are to give this offering to theLordfrom the first of your ground meal. Copyright 2003-2023 | Outreach, Inc., All rights reserved. Sometimes we feel like grasshoppers, small and insignificant. We can sense more. Responding with fear, not courage. and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight" (Num. Enter your email address and we will send you a link to reset your password. Should there be questions regarding grammar or theological content, the reader should presume any website error to be with the webmaster/transcriber/editor rather than with the original speaker. Bury this Word deep in our hearts and let us produce the fruit of faith, the fruit of good works, the fruit of honor to Christ here within this body and out in the world in the places that Youve planted us, for Your honor and glory. The giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, 4. Download. 21There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. The other groups would have never been as united and their efforts would have failed. He reveals it through the intensity, integrity, and ingenuity of his love. Well, one last thing. To say the above statement was made by elders and leaders commissioned by God to lead His people to their place of rest and destiny is absurd, would be an understatement . One interesting fact is that they have ears on their bellies. They were powerful because they appeared that way. Grapes, Giants, Grasshoppers And God - Jesus-is-Savior.com These men heard this report and begin to make sounds that didnt have a lot of thought with them and before long, the chirping was throughout the people. That includes your mind by the way. The idiom to cover the eye of the land occurs twice in Exodus 10 (verses 5 and 15), where it refers to locusts: Exodus 10:4If you refuseto let them go, I will bring locustsinto your country tomorrow. Their protection is removed from them and the Lord is with us. I hope you had a marvelous celebration of Christmas with family and friends and loved ones and that you have a festive beginning of the new year. Their only reported action was to pick a bunch of grapes so large that it required two men to carry. are huge and the walls are high. Numbers 13:23When they reached the Valley of Eshkol. My photo. What do you care how you appear in the eyes of others. (Itturey Torah, 5, p. 83), their sin wasnt simply that they lost faith or that the scouts had misrepresented what they had seen Their failure wasnt even that they had low self-esteem, that they saw themselves as grasshoppers. If you think you're an insect, don't be surprised when everybody around you treats you like an insect - looks upon you like a worm, or a beetle, or a bug! I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Both seem to be a great source of protein. The purpose of God will propel them into the land eventually. Sitting next to her lemonade stand/office, Lucy prepares to offer her sage advice, There is limited thinking which produces limited abilities that gives limited results. Some of you might remember the old 1970s television show, Kung Fu which aired from 1972-1975 on ABC. Suffering from a degenerative eye disease, he lost his sight when he was 13, but that didnt stop him. Lesson number two comes from the Midrash. My challenge to us is this lets be a people of faith. Let's begin reading with verse 23: "And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and . Amen? He would pick up the metal detector and get a signal that was very strong. Is it possible that the quality the spies see in themselves, and believe that the lands existing inhabitants see in them, is not their small size but their ravenous hunger? There they reported to themand to the whole. But Moses replied, Are you jealous for my sake? Faith doesnt come naturally to us, does it? They are bread for us. That is, next to the existing inhabitants of the land, we felt and looked small and inconsequential. The same thing happens with a grasshopper mentality. A couple of factors point in this direction. . THEME: How to live on the mountain while living in the valley. When division happens, the devil is tickled because he is fulfilling his mission of killing, stealing and destroying as Jesus mentions in. But the men who had gone up with him said, We cant attack those people; they are stronger than we are.. He says, Lets go and possess not Lets go and conquer. God had already promised. The 2018 season of excavation at a Late Roman synagogue at Huqoq revealed more fascinating mosaics, including this one referencing Numbers 13:23: two Israelite spies sent by Moses to scout out the land of Canaan carrying a pole with a cluster of grapes. 20Present a loaf from the first of your ground mealand present it as an offering from the threshing floor. Numbers 13:33. His word is infallible. They get on the southern edge of the Promised Land, and they get a glimpse of this land and its inhabitants. you were bought at a price. But the spies retort: We cannot win . We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them., See the self-infliction? And in our own eyes, we were like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes as well . I cant serve you because I dont have the right opportunity. Unbelief always sees the obstacles but faith sees the opportunities. The Moabites fear that Israel will devour the land: Numbers 22:2Now Balak son of Zipporsaw all that Israel had done to the Amorites,3and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." Our own eyes. Don't Think Like a Grasshopper! - Grace Life Church INTRODUCTION: Do you believe God is a loving God? God showed His love on the cross, His love cost Him everything He had in this life..His life! Numbers 13:26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadeshin the Desert of Paran. We are like grasshoppers in their sight, and the are like giants.". Hello John. This is a case of hyperbole. Scripture: Judges 7:8-14. They gave Moses this account: We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Introduction: One of my favorite Comic scenes, is when Charlie brown goes to Lucy for some counseling advice. read more, Scripture: Amen. Strong as it could be. The grasshopper mentality was a self-concept. Numbers 13:33. Charismatic. They werent enough. How could they know this? Lesson number three comes from the great Hassidic master, Menachem Mendel of Kotzk. And so we were in their sight (Numbers 13:33). What do you care how you appear in the eyes of others. (Itturey Torah, 5, p. 83). GOD WANTS US TO EXPERIENCE HIS LOVE AND FELLOWSHIP. He shows bravery and courage. ? Do you see that? They saw deliverance at the Red Sea through which they crossed on dry ground. However, the very next word in the NIV says, but. Isnt there always a big but? It does flow with milk and honey and my goodness look at this fruit, BUT the people that live there are powerful. Rather it was their preoccupation with how others saw them that was their sin., Lesson number three, young grasshoppers: Worry less about how others see you and more about, Who Are We? Well, lets wrap up. Heres the context: God tells Moses to send scouts to spy out the land of Canaan, to see what the land is like, what types of agriculture it supports, what the people who inhabit it are like, are they strong or weak, are their cities fortified or not? One of the most damaging things that can ever happen in a church is for one or two people to start casting doubt. They looked at the powerful people instead the power of God Almighty. Joshua and Caleb believed that God had brought them that far to keep His promise, in light of all that He had done for them to that point, in light of His sure promise to plant them in the land that He had promised their ancestors. But before that, a request: please add your name to a petition/email campaign here to protect a Palestinian family, the Sumarins, who are facing unjust eviction from their East Jerusalem home. I see grasshopper mentality demonstrated in this passage in three ways. This report came back and they doubted Gods Word. He told Moses to send some men over to explore the land. (verses 1-17) When they got there ten of the men saw problems and had a bad report to delivery but Yet for all they have experienced about God, for the good report they could have given at testimony time, they lacked the faith to enter the promised land. This weeks Torah portion offers us several grasshopper lessons. Grasshopper Disease - Joel Osteen Today's Word (May-16-2022) Your perspective needs to change. The men said they seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes. They had a grasshopper mentality. Grasshoppers rub their legs together to make chirping sounds. The doubt-caster will be one that says their way is the right way, there is no other way and whoever doesnt see their way will never be right. My last book was 'From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey: A Commentary on Food in the Torah'; proceeds go to Leket, Israel's national food bank. What is a giant? The Hebrew word translated here as multiplied greatly is more often rendered swarmed. Grapes, Giants, Grasshoppers and God. GOD, GRASSHOPPERS AND A BARLEY CAKE How many excuses can we come up with in our Christian walk? Spot on for me today. Send us your ideas and stories to Author@WeSaidGoTravel.com. His perspective is worth looking at as we close. Has it not been toldyou from the beginning? Since then, since the realization of that promise, Hes made abundant promises to His people that have to do with His presence, with our wellbeing, with the bright future Hes planned for all that are His. Unbelief operates with an unwillingness to factor God, and most particularly the goodness of God, into our evaluation of circumstances and need. I have called you by name; you are mine. even the darkness will not be dark to you; you knit me together in my mothers womb. If we can be untrusting we can be apathetic. read more, Scripture: Almost all other occurrences of the word refer to insects, and indeed, the noun associated with this verb, sheretz, means insect. Psalm 78:41, Numbers 13:1-33, Denomination: Directly after his reference to the land flowing with milk and honey, Joshua makes another allusion to food. All the people we saw there are of great size. Free Sermons and Sermon Outlines for Preaching : Series: Do Not Limit The Holy One Of Israel (Part 6): Do Not Limit God In The Power Of Your Imagination I Am Not A Grasshopper. Asaph I appreciated our reading of Asaph this morning and recognized that he is remembering those deeds of God as you look through the latter half of Psalm 77 and feeding his heart on the deeds of God for His people. Here is its fruit. Joel Osteen (May-16-2022) Today's Word: Grasshopper Disease. Theyve seen ten plagues that brought the great nation of Egypt to its knees, culminating in the night of the Passover and the death of all of Egypts firstborn. They looked only at the size of the obstacle and the threat of the enemy instead of fixing their eyes on. Indeed, Moab was filled with dreadbecause of the Israelites. Both, they and we, are bounded by Gods promise to do good to those who belong to Him. With the resoureces of Gods Promise, His Provision and His Presence, Christians can overcome the grasshopper complex. Distorted Self Image - Aish.com But the spies were right to be concerned. Numbers 13:33 We even saw the Nephilim there--the descendants of Anak (Its the term used in Leviticus 11 above.). Numbers 13:32-33 tells us the whole story of the mistakes made just this side of glory but to sum it all up quickly, THEY REFUSED TO HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WAS IN CONTROL.. They know more than we do. God had already promised them the promised land. I cant serve you God more because I dont have time. Really? Hes a non-factor. 2 Chronicles 7:14, Deuteronomy 1:1-6, Deuteronomy 1:6, Genesis 1:26, Hebrews 11:6, Matthew 13:58, Matthew 6:25-34, Numbers 13:32-33, 52-week preaching calendar to help you plan your sermons, Customizable sermon manuscripts for verse-by-verse preaching, Preach with creativity and impact throughout the year, Help your church understand God's plan in pain, Call your people to experience a higher freedom, Proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). Lets read from Numbers chapter 13, beginning with verse 30. The people of Israel had been held captives in Israel. In my life, in the midst of all those things God has taught me in trial and hardship, theres a common thread that unites all of those things and it is the issue of faith. The Kotzker is upset that the spies should care how they looked to others. You must be born again by the Spirit of God. And as God causes us to be born again, He gives us saving faith which we place in Christ and now we have new life in Him. 1 John 4:7-12, Denomination: Numbers 13:26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadeshin the Desert of Paran. Speak words of life to us. If you would open your Bibles to Numbers chapter 13. We mine Gods Word for what He has promised. Down deep, do you really believe that God is a loving God? He is a big man with muscles like an Olympic weight lifter, a voice that booms and a laugh that is full and infectious. I wish that all the, The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.. And Father, Your intention and promise is to send forth Your Word that it would accomplish all that You intend before it returns to You. Ten spies bring a negative report. Are we good? Pentecostal. 52-week preaching calendar to help you plan your sermons, Customizable sermon manuscripts for verse-by-verse preaching, Preach with creativity and impact throughout the year, Help your church understand God's plan in pain, Call your people to experience a higher freedom, Proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, In Modern America who would want to have a grasshopper complex? Satirized by our childhood and criticized by others, would-be giants often shrink further at the thought of overcoming. . The mother of a nine-year-old boy named Mark received a phone call in the middle of the afternoon. Heres the lesson we mustnt allow our fears to paralyze us. In case of abuse. If you have hope in anything else, get Christ today. Grapes, Giants, and Grasshoppers, Oh My! - Faithlife Sermons The writer of Hebrews sees that same thing. You are saying to the One who created time, you dont have time? First, we should recall that in the food laws outlined in Leviticus 11, grasshoppers are grouped with locusts. It comes from seeing how God has worked among them. It is disgusting, disappointing and above . Yet by the end of the parsha, he is already including non-Israelites (ger in Hebrew, often translated stranger, as below, but best understood as resident alien) as beneficiaries of, and even, participants in sacrificial offering and associated rituals. He dug and could not find anything. They see you as grasshoppers, they see you as angels what difference does it make? Having trouble logging into your account? Grasshoppers have the ability to jump away from any kind of predator. What are the implications of this new reading of looking like grasshoppers? JESUS WANTS US TO CAST OUT DEMONS AND REJOICE THAT OUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN THE HIS BOOK OF LIFE, Scriptures: read more. Lesson number one, young grasshoppers: there are many ways of knowing, many ways of seeing, many ways of apprehending and sensing. Its a good land. In Israel, I've taught Bible at Hebrew University's International School and, currently, in the Department of Biblical Studies at Tel Aviv University, where I am a Teaching Fellow and chair the Academic Steering Committee of the Orit Guardians MA program for Ethiopian Jews. What does our passage teach us about unbelief? The report they bring back has two main themes, the existing inhabitants of the land and, our focus here, food. Such is the case of the Israelites. Are we generous? Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. We cant find out what August will be like. "You think I cannot see," says the master. 6Now come and put a curseon these people, because they are too powerful for me. I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. We shape our understanding of the world around us and the relationships that give texture to it by trusting what God has said to us about Himself, about us, and about everything around us, as well as the future ahead of us. John 3:16 Bearing in mind all this food, lets turn to the end of the spies report. James O. Davis is the founder and president of Second Billion (TM). The land that God has described more than once as a land flowing with milk and honey, theyre about to be ushered into that land. Some of our elders made it their goal at that time to create the Read and Receive 2020 Initiative. Weve talked about that; youve heard about it.