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# The Grasshopper Problem
- URL: https://www.chrisknightwrites.com/the-grasshopper-problem/
- Published: 2026-09-07T10:30:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-07T10:30:42.000Z
- Author: Chris Knight
- Tags: Daily Devotionals, Book of Numbers

Numbers 13:25–33

Have you ever talked yourself out of something before you even tried? I have. Sometimes it only takes about thirteen seconds. I can identify the challenge, calculate everything that could possibly go wrong, imagine three disasters that have never happened and conclude, “Well, clearly God has closed that door.” Apparently, pessimism can occasionally call itself discernment.

That is essentially what happened when the twelve spies returned from exploring the Promised Land. They had all walked through the same land, tasted the same fruit, seen the same fortified cities and stared at the same giants. Yet ten of them came back convinced there was absolutely no way Israel could win. Their description says a lot: *“We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that’s what they thought, too!”* (Numbers 13:33, NLT). Don’t miss that last part. They knew how small they felt, but somehow they also knew what the giants were thinking. **Fear is remarkably talented at reading minds.** It tells us what other people think, predicts how badly things will go and usually has the entire disaster wrapped up before lunch.

The problem was not that the giants were imaginary. They were real. The cities really were fortified. Faith does not mean pretending hard things are easy. The problem was that the spies became so focused on the size of the giants that they forgot the size of their God. We do the same thing. We look at the diagnosis, financial pressure, struggling relationship, overwhelming responsibility or uncertain future and immediately start doing the math. “I’m not strong enough. I’m not qualified enough. I don’t have enough experience. I can’t handle this.” Maybe you can’t, but since when has God’s ability been limited by yours?

Caleb and Joshua saw the same giants, but they remembered something the others forgot. God had already promised to go with them. Their confidence was never supposed to be found in Israel’s strength. It was supposed to be in God’s faithfulness. Maybe there is a giant standing in front of you today. Stop measuring yourself against it and start measuring it against your God. Remember what He has promised. Remember how He has provided. Remember who goes with you. Faith does not make the giants smaller. Faith remembers that God is bigger. So take the next obedient step. **You were never called to be big enough. You were called to trust the God who is.**