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THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE GIANT
TEXT, Num. 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 we
were in their sight.”
AM purposing to spea’k to you on “The
Grasshopper and the Giant,” or “De
structive Courage.” The bit of history
that we have here is perhaps the most
interesting in all the history of Israel
It marks the downward course of that
great people. It is the key that unlocks
the mystery of their defeat. It is the
turning point in the road that explains
CT —
I ' cf I
all the wilderness wandering. It shows exactly why
Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years,
when she might have feasted in Canaan every day;
and so I want to give you a look at this great center
truth which unravels so much of mystery and reveals
so much of suggestion.
Taking the context into consideration, there are
four important steps that are here indicated, every
one of which is brimful of practical and helpful les
sons. First, there is the dispatch of the explorers;
second, the work of the exploration; third, the re
port that they made upon their return; fourth, there
is the sad result that follows. I want to take briefly
these four steps and consider them.
THE DISPATCH OF THE EXPLORERS.
First, the dispatch of the explorers. You are
aware of the fact that these men were sent to spy
out the land of Canaan, not upon the authority of God,
primarily, but, as we are told in the first chapter of
the book of Numbers, they were sent because the
people primarily demanded it. God had commanded
the Israelites to cross the Jordan and possess the
land that had been promised to them. He had not
only commanded them thus to do, but had told them
something of the nature of this great and wonderful
land; that it was a land flowing with milk and
honey; a land of beautiful scenery; of mountains and
valleys, a land to be desired. Toward this land these
people had journeyed since they left Egypt and
crossed the Red Sea.
Now they came upon the time when they were
ready to cross the Jordan and enter upon their long
promised possessions, but before entering upon it,
they demanded a certain number of explorers to go
and spy out this land, and see what kind of a land it
was and whether or not God told the truth when He
said that it was a goodly land, a land to
be desired. So Moses falls in line with this
request. Moses is acting for God, and God
seems here to anwser the prayer of His people,
though it is not the best. He answers it because
He desires to reveal to them their folly. It is not
the only instance where God answers prayer for that
purpose. There is nothing more sacred to a man than
his prayers. There is nothing about which we should
be so careful as our praying. There is nothing in
which we should desire to know the will of God like
in our praying. There is nothing about which we
can afford to say “Thy will be done” as in our pray
ing. We are so short-sighted that we can see only
a short distance. We simply don’t know what to
pray for.
These people should have gone straight ahead to
possess Canaan without any spies. What is the use
of spies to test God when there is the pillar of fire
and the pillar of cloud? In all the journey of Israel
up until this time at every turn of the road there was
God with His pillar of fire by night and His pillar
of cloud by day, guiding them in His way. And what
is the use of imperfect spies when we have God’s
lantern to guide our feet? They ignored the pillar of
cloud and the pillar of fire, and preferred to depend
upon the work cf man, and God gave them their
desire. The spies were appointed and they went upon
their journey of exploration.
THE REPORT MADE.
Upon their return they submit their report, which
was in two parts; the first we will call the report of
the majority the second, the report of the minority.
Here’is the majority: “We have spied the land. We
have seen what it is like. It is a goodly land; God
Tabernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G. Broughton, D.T).
Stenographlcally reported for The Golden Age.—Copyright applied for.
knew what He was talking about, and it is just
exactly as He told us, but there are giants over
there; there are great, big stalwart, valiant fighters
over there “The men,” they say, “that we saw are
men of great stature.” They reasoned that because
the men that they saw were men of great stature,
therefore everybody in the land was like them; a
country with so many nations of giants, and therefore,
though it is a goodly land, though it is flowing with
milk and honey, though God does command us to
go and possess it, yet on the account of these giants
we are against it.
Just at this time Caleb arose and spoke for the
minority. He says: “Let us go over and possess
the land for we are well able.” Just at this juncture
the majority comes in again with the second part of
their report. They say: “We are not able to possess
the land because of the giants, for we were in our
own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their
sight.”
At once there was an uprising of the people. They
joined in with the cry of the majority, and began
to censure Moses for even suggesting that they go
and possess the land, and they bitterly assailed
Caleb and Joshua, who signed this minority report.
Meanwhile there was something going on in the
unseen world. God Almighty, their great Leader,
who had fathered them in all their past struggles,
silently turned His back, and poor Israel was left
in the wilderness to wander in the darkness without
God.
WHEREIN LIES THE DIFFERENCE?
Now, my brethren, I want to take you back with
me for a study of the main points of difference be
tween these two reports. In the first place, let us
see the report of the majority. The report of the
majority is criticised because in the first place it
magnified its difficulties and minified its blessings.
They said, “Every man we saw was a giant;” there
fore they conclude that everybody in the land is a
giant. The easiest thing I know is to point out diffi
culties. It is the easiest, the simplest of all the
work that is to be done in connection with any en
terprise. My experience is that most any half idiot
is an expert at that kind of business. It doesn’t
take any brains to do it, especially when you are
right up against them. Besides, my experience is
that the spirit of difficulty finding is the easiest spirit
in the world to cultivate. It is a thing that grows
without cultivation if you will let it; it oftentimes
grows beyond our control, and it is so destructive,
destructive to one’s own happiness and destructive
to one’s usefulness.
There is a psychological principle which we all
know to be true, that a man becomes ultimately like
that which he thinks most about. There is today a
great stir about thought photography. Ido not know
anything about it, but I am here to say to you that
there is something in thought sculptuary. A man
sculptures himself by the chisel of his thought, and
it is something that he does as automatically as he
breathes. Whatever your thought is, you will be in
the future. Every man’s thought is a prophecy of
the future man. I believe it as much as I believe
in my present existence. Whatever that is today that
is engaging our attention in thought is the thing
that is in a reflex sense doing most to mold our
own personality. “As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he.” There is no food for pure character but a
pure thought.
Oh, my brethren, we have neglected this great
truth and we are reaping the fruit of it today in our
country. We have depended too much upon a relig
ion of externalism; a religion of legalism, or mere
external reformation. It is good to have a law that
says, “Thou shalt not,” but the Church has depended
too far and too long upon the mere external features
in the building of character. Character begins with a
man’s thoughts, and the law of the land and the law
of the Church, and the law of society and the law of
everything combined can not invade this great realm.
It is there that the battle of life is to be fought; it
is there that the great structure of character is to
be built.
I do not know anything we should dread more than
The Golden Age for December 8, 1810.
the habit of fault-finding. A friend of mine was
telling me that she had found that she had grown
in the habit of fault-finding, until she was not satis
fied with anything, with the church, the minister,
her husband, her children, her home, with every
thing about her she found that she was displeased.
She said she did not know why. I understood why
It is the nature of the thing. It is more contagious
than the measles. It spreads more rapidly than the
fever. Begin to nurse your thoughts of evil, of
jealousy, of sensitiveness, of complaining, of fault
finding, of difficulty hunting, and after awhile you
are nothing more nor less than a walking bunch of
objections. She said that just at that time she heard
Charlie Alexander sing that simple little gospel story
that has blessed the world so much, “Count your
blessings, name them one by one,” and she said she
made up her mind, “Next time I find a disposition
creeping up in me to complain, I am going to begin to
sing, “Count your blessings, name them one by one.”
And do you know,” she said, before I knew it, I
was a changed woman. And more than that, every
body around me found it out,” and her husband
broke in and said, “Yes, and I was the first one.”
I wish I could impart to you what I feel about this
thing; I wish that I could beget in each and every
one of you a resolution by the help of God to begin
to say when this temptation comes upon you, “I will
sing, ‘Count your blessings, name them one by one.’ ”
Oh, brethren, God has been so much better to us
than the future looks dark to us. God forbid that I
should in any sense despair of the future; with the
pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire at hand. I don’t
care what kind of storm-cloud arises, I know that
He will be there and I had rather have the conscious
ness of the light that shines from Him than the re
port of the wisest philosophers. I tell you, I had
rather have the cloud and the fire than the wisdom
of men.
WHAT MUST DISGUST GOD.
One thing more about this report, it pretended to
interpret other people as they interpreted themselves.
“We were in our own sight as grasshoppers,” getting
mighty low down; but some people can get mighty
low down when you are expecting them to do some
thing big; some people can get awfully poor when
people go to them for money. We were as grass
hoppers,” and if you had walked up and said to one
of them, “You old grasshopper, get out of my way,”
he would have knocked you down. No man is hon
est that talks like that. It is a form of humility that
God despises and men can not stand. It is like unto
the same spirit that we have today; there are people
who delight in calling themselves “worms of the
dust,” in certain company; and those very men that
so freely announce themselves to be “worms of the
dust,” and for certain reasons, would knock you
down and beat you into a frazzle if you called them
a worm. Brethren, God doesn’t want me to come to
Him in the attitude of a worm. He did not make
me like that, and He isn’t pleased with that kind of
pretended humility. I believe God had rather have
sincerity than anything else. If it be possible for
Him to get disgusted with men, it is when they come
fawning and whimpering and whining around Him
in a spirit that isn’t sincere. I believe that God had
far rather have me come and say, “Father, God, here
is a man; the very highest touch of your creative
genious; a man, something that you made and crown
ed as you did nothing else that you ever touched.”
But as great as he is, he is a sinner; he has dis
graced his high calling, and comes to you for for
giveness and guidance.”
I do not want my boy to come to me and say, “Fa
ther, here is a poor worm; just a grasshopper; have
mercy on me.” That is not humility because it is
not true. I love for him to come to me and say,
“Father, here is your son; I have your name; your
blood! but I have not met your expectations, and I am
sorry; I have missed the mark; forgive me and help
me to get on my feet again, and perhaps then I
can meet your requirement.” Oh, that is what a
father wants; and that is what the father-heart of
God longs for.
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