When We Believe | Elder Thompson | Sabbath Service

Devotional

Day 1: When We See Fruit but Forget the Farmer

The spies returned with clusters of grapes so large they required two men to carry them—evidence of God’s abundant promise. Yet they fixated on fortified cities rather than the One who planted that fruit. Life’s challenges often shrink our vision to obstacles instead of the Provider who cultivates breakthroughs. What if we trained our eyes to trace every blessing back to His hand? [01:55:39]

“They gave Moses this account: ‘We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.’”
(Numbers 13:27, NLT)

Reflection: What “cluster of grapes” in your life right now—a provision, relationship, or breakthrough—have you stopped thanking God for because you’re distracted by looming walls?

Day 2: Grasshopper Eyes in a Giant’s World

Ten spies saw themselves as insects compared to the Anakim, forgetting they carried the covenant of the God who drowns armies. When we measure our strength against problems without factoring in divine power, we shrink into helplessness. But perspective shifts when we recall whose banner flies over us. [02:04:20]

“We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak… We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that’s what they thought, too!”
(Numbers 13:33, NLT)

Reflection: Where have you accepted a “grasshopper narrative” about your capabilities, relationships, or purpose that contradicts God’s royal claim over you?

Day 3: Relief Men and Lunch Pail Faith

A child’s misunderstanding of her father’s blue-collar job—believing he “ate lunches for work”—mirrors our limited view of Christ’s substitution. Jesus didn’t just cover our breaks; He clocked in permanently at Calvary. His relief work continues in every gap we can’t fill. [02:14:11]

“This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings we do. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.”
(Hebrews 4:15-16, NLT)

Reflection: What overwhelming responsibility or inadequacy do you need to hand over to the One who specializes in holy shift work?

Day 4: Amorites in Leather Briefcases

The preacher named modern giants—status symbols, financial disparities, curated perfection—that intimidate like ancient tribes. Yet the same God who owns “hills and cattle” equips us to stand unshaken in boardrooms, schools, and social feeds where others flaunt their herds. [02:02:34]

“Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”
(Proverbs 3:7, NLT)

Reflection: What “designer-label giant” makes you feel spiritually underdressed, and how might reclaiming your identity as God’s heir change that interaction?

Day 5: Forty Days of Scouting, Forty Years of Maybe

The spies’ 40-day mission birthed 40 years of wandering for the faithless, but planted perseverance in Caleb and Joshua. Every season of waiting tests whether we’ll let delay dilute our trust or distill it into audacious hope. [02:10:29]

“It was by faith that Caleb… said, ‘Let’s go at once to take the land. We can certainly conquer it!’”
(Hebrews 11:30, NLT)

Reflection: What “conquest delay” has you tempted to settle for wilderness survival mode instead of claiming promised territory?

Sermon Summary

Numbers 13 brings Israel right up to the edge of the land God promised, a land really flowing with milk and honey. The fruit is not a rumor, because the cluster of grapes is so heavy that two men have to carry it on a pole. The text lets the goodness of God sit right there in front of the people, plain and undeniable. But the bad report starts talking louder than the fruit.

The ten spies see the same land Caleb sees, but their eyes get stuck on giants, fortified cities, and all the reasons the promise looks impossible. The problem is not that the giants are imaginary. The problem is that the spies forget that their Daddy is the greatest. God has already parted the Red Sea, drowned Pharaoh’s army, led Israel by cloud and fire, and fed them in the wilderness. Yet fear can make a people give a bad report when they ought to be telling somebody how good God has been.

Belief recognizes the goodness of God first. The world may be out of balance, with loss, conflict, fear, and trouble everywhere, but God still sits high and looks low. Belief refuses to let Anak, Amalek, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, or any other giant become bigger than God. The giants may be strong, mean, terrifying, negative, wealthy, or impressive, but God knows how to defeat giants.

The grasshopper image exposes what unbelief does inside a person. The spies say they are grasshoppers in their own sight, and that means fear has already reduced them before the battle even begins. God calls sons and daughters royalty, not insects. Fathers and men especially need to hear that God has given gifts, strength, tenderness, and purpose, and that they are not grasshoppers in the eyes of God.

Caleb and Joshua show what belief sounds like. Faith changes the focus. Looking inward may show weakness, and looking around may show giants, but looking up shows power. Hebrews says without faith it is impossible to please God, because God rewards those who diligently seek Him.

The relief man picture points straight to Jesus. The father who stepped in at the foundry did not eat lunches, he took another man’s place so the work could continue. Christ became the true Relief Man, knowing hunger, loneliness, rejection, church hurt, temptation, and pain, yet without sin. Jesus was treated as sinners deserve so that sinners could be treated as He deserves, and by His stripes healing comes.

##

Key Takeaways

1. Remember how good God has been God’s goodness is not an idea floating somewhere far away. Numbers 13 places fruit in Israel’s hands before fear starts talking, and that matters. Faith learns to let remembered mercy answer present panic before a bad report takes over the mouth. [115:18]
2. Giants are not bigger than God The giants in the land are real, and fear does not have to pretend otherwise. Anak, Amalek, terror, negativity, status, and intimidation all have names, but none of them has the final word. Belief does not brag about human strength, it rests in the God who can take giants out. [118:24]
3. Grasshopper sight must be rejected The spies were not first defeated by the giants, they were defeated by the way they saw themselves. Unbelief shrinks a child of God down to an insect before the battle even begins. God-given identity must speak louder than fear, shame, society, or old failure. [123:44]
4. Faith changes the focus Looking inward can make the soul see only grasshoppers, and looking around can make the soul see only giants. Looking up opens the eyes to the power that has been available all along. Faith is not denial of trouble, it is a disciplined refusal to let trouble become larger than God. [128:51]
5. Jesus is the Relief Man The relief man does not merely feel sorry from a distance. Jesus stepped into the place where death, sin, loneliness, hunger, rejection, and temptation pressed hardest. The cross declares that Christ took the sinner’s place so the sinner could receive what belongs to Him.

## [132:53]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[106:00] - Reading Numbers 13
[109:32] - When Belief Faces the Bad Report
[109:51] - My Daddy Is the Greatest
[113:20] - Remembering God’s Faithfulness
[115:18] - Recognizing the Goodness of God
[118:24] - Refusing to Fear the Giants
[123:44] - No Longer Grasshoppers
[125:04] - Affirming Fathers and Men
[127:21] - The Audacity of Hope
[128:51] - Change the Focus
[130:09] - The Reward and Cost of Belief
[131:33] - Jesus, the Relief Man
[135:24] - Prayer for Mustard Seed Faith

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Numbers 13:25-33
“At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, ‘We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.’ But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.’ Then the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.’ So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’” [01:46:15]

Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” [02:10:55]

1 Peter 2:24
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

Observation questions

In Numbers 13, what good evidence of the land did the spies bring back, and what dangers did they place beside that evidence? [01:55:18]
What different words do Caleb and the other spies use when they talk about taking the land, and what does that reveal about where each side is focused? [01:48:25]
In the passage, who do the spies say they are “in our own sight,” and why is that detail so important? [02:03:56]
According to Hebrews 11:6, what two things must a person believe about God in order to draw near to Him?

Interpretation questions

The spies saw the same land and the same people, yet Caleb spoke with confidence while the others spread a bad report. What does that suggest about the difference between fear and faith when both are looking at the same situation? [01:56:00]
The words “we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers” show that defeat started inside the spies before any battle began. How does a small view of self make it harder to trust a great God? [02:04:10]
Faith does not deny that giants are real. What is the difference between honest awareness of a problem and letting that problem become bigger than God? [01:58:24]
Jesus bore sins in His body on the tree and took the sinner’s place. How does seeing Christ as the One who stepped in for others help explain why believers can face fear, shame, and weakness with hope? [02:12:36]

Application questions

What “fruit of the land” has God already put in view in this season of life—answered prayer, provision, protection, growth, peace—and how can that remembered goodness speak louder than present fear? [01:53:20]
Which giant feels biggest right now: fear, loss, money pressure, bad news, intimidation, negativity, status, or something else? What would it look like this week to refuse to let that giant have the final word? [01:58:47]
Where is grasshopper thinking showing up personally right now? Is it in prayer, work, parenting, serving, relationships, or the way the future is being viewed? [02:03:44]
God’s children are not grasshoppers but sons and daughters with God-given worth. What lies or old labels need to be rejected so that identity is shaped more by God’s voice than by fear or failure? [02:04:18]
Looking inward may reveal weakness, and looking around may reveal giants, but looking up reveals power. What helps shift the eyes upward when anxiety starts taking over? [02:08:51]
Hebrews says God rewards those who seek Him. What is one simple, concrete way to seek Him more diligently this week when belief feels small—prayer, Scripture, worship, testimony, or asking someone to stand in faith together? [02:11:03]
Jesus stepped into the place sinners deserved to stand. How does His willingness to carry sin, pain, and rejection make it easier to trust Him with the part of life that feels heaviest right now? [02:14:44]

Sermon Clips

66s

“Change focus. Change your focus. If I look at me, I might see a grasshopper. If I look around, I might see giants. But when I look up, I see the power that is available to me. When we look at circumstances and situations all around us, it is a challenge to believe. We think, god, can we really defeat this? I know he's done that for them, and I'm seeing him do this for those. But can he really handle my problem? Has he seen my bank account? Can he do this? Change your focus. Instead of looking at the giants and the walls and the lion's den and the fiery furnace, Focus on the almighty god who can handle any situation.”

43s

“There are giants in the land, but I will not fear them. It's easy to focus on the giants and the walls and the hiccups and the glitches and the problems and the issues and the barriers and the circumstances and the situations, but we have a god who knows how to defeat giants. he is just waiting for us to have just enough faith to try. Just enough faith to believe.”

46s

“heaven sent a relief man. Someone who understands every part of our life on this earth. Someone who knows what it feels like to be lonely, to be hungry, tired, annoyed, broke, discouraged, talked about. He knows what it's like to have his mama talked about. He knows what it's like to struggle, to be homeless, who was not always welcome in the church, who experienced church hurt, and in all points was tempted just as we.”

44s

“without sin. The first Adam couldn't do it. Elijah couldn't do it. Moses couldn't do it. They didn't have the experience. Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God, he was the one with the stamina and the experience and the versatility and the multitasking ability to take our place and become our release man. He was treated as we deserve so that we could be treated as he deserves.”

Ask a question about this sermon

Columbus Ephesus This sermon · AI assistant

How does belief change perception of life's giants?

What is meant by Jesus as relief man?

What cost follows when people refuse to believe?

When We Believe | Elder Thompson | Sabbath Service | 6/27/26