AS YOU THINK…
Numbers 13:33 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 were in their sight.
Proverbs 23:7 says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. The mind is so important in receiving from God. Although you believe with your heart and not your mind, an unrenewed mind will cause you great trouble in receiving from God. Our verse today shows it very clearly. Let me give you the back story. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt. When they called out to the God, who they had a covenant with, He sent Moses to deliver them. When they left Egypt, they left in quite a commotion. The first born of every Egyptian family had just died. The Israelites, however, were all healed. They were told by God to go to the Egyptians and literally claim what Joseph had stored up for them, silver, gold, and clothes. They left as the richest and best dressed slaves you had ever seen; healed and whole and ready to go. They ran into a hard spot at the Red Sea, but God delivered them to the other side on dry ground; and then, collapsed the river on the Egyptian soldiers, and they all drowned. A party was had, and a song was written, “The Horse and the Rider Thrown into the Sea.” They were then off to what God had promised them.
God had promised them a good land with houses they didn’t build, vineyards they didn’t plant, and a land that flowed with milk and honey. Remember, the 12 spies went into the land, and it was everything God said it would be. However, the Lord didn’t tell them about the giants, the walled cities, and that some parts of the land were rough. God gave them the land, and even though they had seen God do miracle after miracle, fulfilling all His promises to this point, 10 of the spies began to compare themselves to the giants in the land. They begin to think, “These are warriors; I am a brick layer. These guys are big; we are just regular guys.” They not only thought these things, but they began to take it further by calling themselves grasshoppers. What do you do with a grasshopper? It’s a bug; you smash it under your foot. They began seeing themselves as a worthless bug; and then, they added the mind set to it saying that’s the way the enemy saw them too.
The interesting thing is, as a spy, they were not even seen by the enemy. This was all in their minds, but it was enough to convince them they couldn’t do what God said; and, unfortunately, their imaginations were enough to convince an entire group of people that had seen all the miracles God had done to start throwing wild accusations against God like, “You brought our children out here to die! Why didn’t you leave us alone? Were there not graves in Egypt?” Our mind and imaginations are a powerful thing. We must renew our minds by looking into the mirror of God’s Word and see who we really are. Thank God we do not have to make the same mistakes as these 10 spies did. Let’s think the thoughts of God so we can change our lives and those around us!