What would you think about yourself if someone were to tell you that you have a grasshopper complex? The first thought you might have is that they think you hop around from one thing to another and don't stay in one place very long. Beyond that first thought, it might be difficult to think of any other aspect of the grasshopper that you are like.
Consider this: "And there we saw 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" (Numbers 13:13).
Ten of the twelve spies had a grasshopper complex. Note that they said "we were in our own sight." It might have been easy to feel small if we had been there, but Joshua and Caleb thought otherwise. The ten spies brought an evil report of the land due to their lack of faith and sense of self worth. They felt small and insignificant compared to the giants of the land, thus they had a grasshopper complex.
Joshua and Caleb did not debate the fact that there were giants in the land, but they said, "If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us" (Numbers 14:8). The ten spies did not consider the role of God in the taking of the land whereas Joshua and Caleb used their faith in the Lord as the reason they could take the land.
Each of us face similar situations in life. We have giants confronting us and it is really easy to say "I can't." That may very well be the truth. You can't do it alone, you need help. The grasshopper complex is present in the person who has an inferiority complex. They take the warning against the "BIG I--little you" to an extreme. It becomes so much of a thing in their life that they continue to belittle themselves in their own eyes and in the eyes of others.
Humility is often confused with this problem. It is easy for us to want to be humble and in trying to accomplish humility we become helpless. God did not intend for humility to take this turn in our life. Paul was humble but still was able to say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).
A grasshopper complex requires no effort. All we need to do is sit down and say "I can't" regardless of what is asked of us. Fear of failure may have been the first reason for this attitude, but after a while it becomes comfortable to not be asked to do anything. After all, everyone knows what the answer will be if they ask us to do something. At this point, laziness becomes the reason for not doing something.
The next time you get down on yourself and think you are not worth very much, think about the fact that God made you as a human being in His image and not as a lowly grasshopper. You are valuable (and capable) in His eyes.
~In Gospel Power, Anderson, Alabama, 11/23/97.