HE BELIEVES IN ME
One of our greatest limitation on our potential is our “grasshopper mentality”. We possess a grasshopper mentality when we look down on our selves and our potential like the ten spies who had been sent by Moses to spy on Canaan. Listen to the negative report they brought: Numbers 13:32-33 BSB
[32] So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature. [33] We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”
The phrase, ” we seemed like grasshoppers in our sight” is telling. The grasshopper mentality is where we have this deep-seated belief that we do not have what it takes to embark and perform the assignments that God has given to us!
The goodness is that even when we do not believe in ourselves, God stills believes in us! Glory be to God! He still believes in me!
The story of Gideon illustrates this:
Judges 6:11-16 BSB
[11] Then the angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. [12] And the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” [13] “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the Lord brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.” [14] The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?” [15] “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” [16] “Surely I will be with you,” the Lord replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.”
Gideon is suffering from the grasshopper mentality. He believes he is not equal to the task before him. He explains to the angel his reasoning! But the encouraging message from the angel is powerful!
” Gideon, you can conquer the Midianites! I have deposited in you the resources that you need to complete this assignment! I believe in you Gideon”.
When God called Jeremiah to the prophetic ministry, Jeremiah had a grasshopper mentality and looked down upon himself. Listen to this exchange between him and God!
Jeremiah 1:4-10 BSB
[4] The word of the Lord came to me, saying: [5] “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” [6] “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I surely do not know how to speak, for I am only a child!” [7] But the Lord told me: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ For to everyone I send you, you must go, and all that I command you, you must speak. [8] Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord. [9] Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. [10] See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
In a nutshell, God is telling Jeremiah, “I believe in you and I have equipped you for your assignment! You will succeed because I am with you.”
When the children of Israel looked stranded at the Red Sea, a confused Moses went crying to the Lord. The words of the Lord to Moses are insightful. Exodus 14:15-16 BSB
[15] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. [16] And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”
Ponder this words!
Lift your staff!
Stretch your hand over the sea
Divide the sea!
Moses must have stood with his mouth agape! He had never heard of anything like this before! God made is sound so simple! “Moses, you can do it! You can pull this one off! I believe in you.” And as they say, the rest is history!
When we realize that God believes in us and nothing is impossible with God, we the start in believing in ourselves! When we see why God believes in us, we will develop great confidence in our ability to complete the assignments God has given us.
What is the basis of this confidence?
The Apostle Paul would say in Philippians 4:13 BSB
[13] I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
2 Corinthians 4:7 BSB
[7] Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
The reason God believes in me is because of the deposit He has put within me, His Holy Spirit! And because His Spirit lives in us, we can also believe in ourselves and in His strength embark on our divine assignments moving towards the fulfillment of our destinies!
He believes in you, He believes in me and He believes in us! Glory glory be to God!
This revelation is insightful that we can only exclaim with the Psalmist:
[1] O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. [2] You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.
[4] what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?
[5] Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. [6] You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— [7] the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, [8] the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. [9] O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Glory glory glory Hallelujah!
