Several years ago I read an article about a man who scaled a high wall at the Bronx Zoo’s gorilla exhibit because he wanted to be "at one with the monkeys." The man stripped down to his boxer shorts before trying to join the gorillas. A zoo employee managed to herd the animals off before the man could come close to them. Police arrested the man, who was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.　

While most people would never scale a wall to join the monkeys, many people lower themselves to be less than God intended for them to be. 　

Shortly after the Exodus, the Israelites were at the edge of the Promised Land (the present day country of Israel.) God commanded them to send 12 spies to explore the land in order to prepare for the entire nation to cross over and occupy it.　

All twelve of the spies brought back a great report about the land. They described it as a land "flowing with milk and honey." They even returned with a bunch of grapes so large that it had to be carried by two men. In addition, all twelve spies reported that there were large warriors living in the land. 　

But while two of the spies advised the people to trust God and enter the land, the other ten warned that the warriors were so strong that it would mean certain defeat. Instead of going forward to victory, they looked at the problems and said, "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." (Numbers 13:33).　

The result? By lowering their view of themselves they missed what God had intended for them and instead wandered around in the desert for 40 years. 　

Self-image is a powerful force. People who see themselves as victims usually end up being victims of Satan’s lies. That is why children of alcoholics often become alcoholics and why adults who were abused as children often shack up with abusive mates. It is why some people bounce from relationship to relationship, always seeking to be filled but never knowing how to develop a fulfilling relationship.　

What has been done has been done. No one can change his past. Everyone is deeply influenced by his background. Those who have been injured often use what others have done to them as an excuse for their own behavior. They blame their wrong choices on their father’s lack of love, or their mothers possessiveness, or their parents’ divorce, or any other painful event from their past.　

A person who blames his or her actions on what someone else has done is essentially saying, "I am doing what I do because I am damaged goods." She sees herself as a grasshopper – insignificant, powerless, and with no sense of control. 　

God sees us differently. We are his highest creation. While excuses like "But I had a dysfunctional family" or "But I was so lonely" or "But I was unloved as child" may break his heart they are never acceptable to him as reasons for behavior. 　

Unlike any other creature, God has given us power to choose our attitudes and our behavior. While we cannot always choose what others do to us, we can always choose how we react to what they do. 　

Persons who refuse to accept responsibility for their own feelings and actions are at the mercy of what others do or have done. They have made themselves grasshoppers, ready to be squashed under the boot of abuse, unfairness, prejudice, or bitterness. The only way to leave grasshopper land is to stop nursing the wounds of the past and fly on to the brighter future God intends for each one of us.