Our reading from the Book of Numbers today warns of shying away from God’s great vision. “It’s too much, too unrealistic,” we say. 

The LORD said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,] “Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, which I am giving the children of Israel.”

Their report: “We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us.”So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel about the land they had scouted, saying,”The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants. And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants; we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”

God reacted strongly to their lack of trust and vision, and they suffered for not trusting in God and accepting God’s great vision.

“Our ancestors in Egypt considered not your wonders…They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt, Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.” Psalm 106, the responsorial psalm says.

I noticed Psalm 76 in our morning prayer today speaks of the same forgetfulness of God’s plan and power. “Will the Lord reject us for ever? Will he show us his favor no more? Has his love vanished for ever? Has his promise come to an end? Does God forget his mercy or in anger withhold his compassion?”

God is powerless. The vision is unattainable. We have nothing.

The psalmist goes on to remember the great deeds of God in creation and in the history of his people, and so must we. We’re not grasshoppers.

“I remember the deeds of the Lord, I remember your wonders of old, I muse on all your works and ponder your mighty deeds.You are the God who works wonders. You showed your power among the peoples.Your strong arm redeemed your people,…The earth was moved and trembled when your way led through the sea, your path through the mighty waters and no one saw your footprints.You guided your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”