The Grasshopper Mindset

The Grasshopper Mindset

Numbers 13
Exploring Canaan
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders."
3 So at the LORD's command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, "Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land." (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
Report on the Exploration
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 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."
30 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."
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." 32And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."


Today we want to discuss the Grasshopper Mindset.

Num 13: 33…. “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

We want to draw your attention to three things related to the Grasshopper Mindset.

The first feature of the Grasshopper Mindset is that it drives you to paint yourself in a negative light in comparison to others. The explorers saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison to the huge size of the inhibitors of the land.

“We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes..” This was their own perception of themselves. This is not the findings of a survey done among the Canaanites. This was a self-evaluation. They examined themselves and found themselves to be woefully inadequate.

When the Grasshopper Mindset is present you feel inadequate in comparison to others. You fail to place enough value on your assets and capabilities. You forget to take into consideration what you have going for you.

The explorers who were guilty of the Grasshopper Mindset failed to include their most important asset in their report. They failed to count God into the things that they had going for them. “Yes, they ARE tall but if they see us as grasshoppers, God sees them as ants.”

Today, the Grasshopper Mindset limits most of us to some degree in one or more areas of our lives. Like the Israelites, we fail to enter into the Canaan land opportunities in our lives because we minimize our capabilities in comparison to the challenges that are ahead of us.

As God's people, we are blessed. As we look around, we see members who have significant achievement behind them or great potential ahead of them. We have unbelievable capacity to be a high performing group. We can achieve whatever we put our minds to do. Plus, we have the omnipotence of God and His providence to call on.

Despite this, I think it is fair to state that we have not maximized our potential. The truth is that we are not performing as well as we should. We have not stepped into the Canaan land opportunities and responsibilities that are ours. One reason could be that we doubt our ability to claim those opportunities as ours.

The reality is that the success of the congregation is the sum of the performance of its individual members. Yes, when we find fault and complain about the short-comings of the congregation we ought to make sure that some of the finger-pointing is directed at ourselves. We need to examine more carefully our role or lack of contribution that allows the situation that we are uncomfortable with to remain.

And any thought that you are somehow not able to make the difference comes from a Grasshopper Mindset. To the extent then that as a congregation we are failing to meet desirable objectives, it is fair to believe that the Grasshopper Mindset is at present among us at the individual and group level.

The numerical growth of the congregation is not attained because individual members feel inadequate to present the Gospel message to others. We compare ourselves to this brother or sister who can recite the Bible backwards or who has the gift to make persuasive arguments. We feel like grasshoppers in comparison.

The drive for strengthening our fellowship and unity is frustrated because of the comparison with various images in our heads of some ideal relationship among members. This superior image is how we think it ought to be. Then we compare the existing situation to our Utopia – our image - and we get disappointed and our enthusiasm wanes.

We do not take up the personal challenge of making a transforming difference because the Grasshopper Mindset tells us that such a task is beyond us.

28But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. This situation is bigger than me!

The quest for spiritual development of members is hampered by double-mindedness and a lack of commitment. We absent ourselves from Bible study often because we under-estimate its value. This is a grasshopper activity when compared to the giant images I have of how these studies ought to be.

The same thing with the sermons: We allow the Grasshopper Mindset to delude into focusing our attention on messengers instead of understanding that it is the God in the message that convicts us and provokes us to improvement and not the eloquence and style of the preacher.

So we hop around like grasshoppers in the hope of being blessed to be in the presence of a re-incarnated Paul. When we do that we lose sight of the fact that significant sections of 2nd Corinthians are about Paul contending with members who were beset with the Grasshopper Mindset that he - mighty evangelist Paul - was not the spiritual grasshopper that they thought him to be.

2 Cor 10:
7You are looking only on the surface of things.[a] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he………….Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory. 17But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."[c] 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
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At the personal level, our careers have not developed in the way that they could. We have the potential to achieve more. Yet we fail to move forward at the right pace because we under-value what we have going for us.

We cast ourselves as grasshoppers when confronting the challenges of the job market. In business, we see ourselves as grasshoppers when compared to the giant competitors that we have to battle.

The same thing applies to our relationships. They are not as deep and as diverse as they could be because of self-doubt about our capacity to sustain that many deep and close relationships.

The grasshopper Mindset limits us by making us feel inadequate in the face of the challenges that confront us. It prompts us to concede without trying given the magnitude of the odds against us.

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are."

The second thing to note about the Grasshopper Mindset is that it causes us to live in fear.

They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

The Grasshopper Mindset makes us afraid.

We shut up when the opportunity presents itself for us to witness because we totally discount our ability to evangelize.

We fail to reach out to others in the congregation because of some fear about how we will be received and how it will turn out.

We see the need for another ministry or activity but we merely talk about it or just think about it because we are not clear about our own role in making it happen.

Rom 8: 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.[g] And by him we cry, "Abba,[h] Father."16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

The third impact of the Grasshopper Mindset is that because of our inadequacy and fear we find it necessary to seek comfort and security among others. Consequently, we set about making others aware of the existing grasshopper-ness that we see and get them to have a sense of how dangerous life is from that perspective.

" 32And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.“

The Grasshopper Mindset has the effect of prompting us to share our doubts and fears with others. When they buy in we get comfort from their support. Their support serves to confirm our evaluation of the situation. This is not only about how we see things but these other people feel the same way too.

In that mode, breaking free from the Grasshopper Mindset is even more difficult. The multiplier effect normally sets in and the wave of negativism gathers momentum. Facing up to the challenges that must be addressed to access Canaan land opportunities is less likely day by day.

At the congregational level, we stagnate. The Grasshopper Mindset moves through like a virus infecting more and more members and even the robust and healthy are at risk.

At the personal level, we tend to spend more time with persons who are affected by the Grasshopper Mindset and stay clear of those who would challenge us to break free from it.

So, what do we do about the Grasshopper Mindset?

The key to addressing the Grasshopper Mindset is to ensure that when you evaluate yourself in the face of your challenges you take ALL your assets into consideration. Consider all the things you have going for you.

30 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."

Caleb recognized that they had the God who led them out of Egypt and beat Pharaoh’s pursuing army on their side. He counted all that he had on his side.

Num 14: 24But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

As a congregation, let us emulate the spirit of Caleb……… for we can certainly do it.
Young People’s Group is not meeting your needs… we can certainly address that.
Missing ministry or activity…we can certainly fill that gap.
Not happy with the spiritual food that is being made available…we can certainly fix that.
Not comfortable with the fellowship…we can certainly fix that.

The we can certainly do it mindset leads to positive action and outstanding results. Let us break free from the stagnation of the Grasshopper Mindset and replace it with Caleb’s we can certainly do it approach.

As a congregation, there are Canaan land opportunities open to us..let us claim them with certainty.

As individuals, you have opportunities open to you – in some aspect of your life. Adopt Caleb’s we can certainly do it mindset and make it happen.

With God on our team we are never grasshoppers. We God on our side, we can certainly do it.

If you are here and you have not taken steps to be obedient to the Gospel, then you cannot count God among your assets. To obey the Gospel:

Hear the Gospel message…Christ died for your sins so that you can be reconciled to God. (Rom 10:17)

Believe…that the Gospel message is in fact true act on it. (Rom 10:10)

Repent…decide to change your ways (Luke 13:3)

Confess….announce your acceptance that Jesus is Lord indeed (Rom 10:10)

Be Baptised… for the washing away of your sins (Acts 2:38)

Walk… in the newness of life (1 John 1: 5 -7)