Be A Caleb, Not A Grasshopper!
Numbers 13:30-33 –
‘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 can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And 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…. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.’
Imagine, you’re Moses: you send out twelve men to the Promised Land to survey the territory (Numbers 13). Ten, come back with the same report. Two differ. Who would you believe? It’s logic, right, it’s ten accounts against two. But in this case, the two were actually spot on.
The ten men spoke as if they had already been defeated before they had even attempted to enter the land. They went as far as to say they were like grasshoppers compared to the giant inhabitants! But Caleb confidently claimed ‘certainly they can’ possess the land.
This is something I’ve personally struggled with, especially in my field of work. We’ve all experienced it at some point - Imposter syndrome -feeling like a fraud, or you have no right to be in your position.
We may think our self-estimation is from a place of humility, but in fact the imposter syndrome allows fear to take over and cripple us. I remember not speaking at conferences or hating presenting my research because I felt like a fraud or that I wasn’t smart enough. It was only when I stamped out those lies that I grew in confidence and was able to put myself forward for things.
God doesn’t see us as small or weak: he addresses various people in the Bible as ‘mighty hero, ‘mighty man of valour and ‘highly favoured’. We need to change our language, the way we speak even about ourselves. Speaking negatively will only stop us from experiencing the blessings God wants us to enjoy. It was probably a fact the people were like giants but Caleb didn’t see the facts; he saw the truth. He saw himself through God’s eyes.
Prayer – Help me Lord to see myself how you see me.I pray against fear; help me not to speak negative words over my life. Today, may I begin to walk with confidence, knowing who I am in Christ.