Grasshoppers and giants

Numbers 13:26 ; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. But the men who had gone up with Caleb and Joshua said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel an evil report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. They were saw the giants and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” All Israel believed their report. Numbers 14:3 Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” But Joshua the son of Nun (eternity) and Caleb the son of Jephunneh (he who is prepared) who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome.”
But Israel accepted the "evil report" from the ten spies and an entire generation did not possess the land of their inheritance.
An evil report can be factually true but spiritually false.
The key thought was in how they saw themselves, which was as grasshoppers against giants. This shrinking back because of a false perception of who they were was another example of their unbelief, which kindled the anger of God (see Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 and 10).
Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
Even today, as Christians, we are challenged to possess the land, which in the New Testament is the spiritual inheritance of the life of Christ within.
Ephesians 1:11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will…
So we can fall under the same example of unbelief, taking on a grasshopper mentality, and seeing only our weaknesses and the power of sin, not appropriating Christ within us to strengthen us.

Israel allowed their outer journey to become greater that their inner journey to walk with God.
Their judgement was that they were not allowed to enter the land in that generation, and they perished in the Wilderness, and another generation under Joshua went to possess the land. The Lord will always accomplish His purposes, through whatever generation perceives them and believes in them. Everybody alive today can be part of the generation that enters in.

Seeing ourselves as a grasshopper self, means seeing ourselves as a victim of life with everything just too hard for us. Or we can see ourselves as a Joshua or a Caleb, as a son of eternity and as one who is prepared for challenge and change. The wrong mindset creates anxiety and the right mindset takes us out of it. We have the Spirit of life in Christ in us that is ‘well able to overcome’. We find this in the midst of hard times and tough challenges when other people are saying don’t venture out into the unknown, we say we are well able to overcome.