(Luke 22:31-32)
"And
the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may
sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for
thee,
that thy faith fail not: And when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren."
One day
Satan, walking to & fro in the
earth, seeking new prey like a hungry
roaring
lion, saw Peter. Peter the Apostle
is
brash, impudent, and impulsive.
Satan
thought to himself, "It will be an easy
task to devour Peter, I will sift him like
wheat
and when I am finished, there won't be
anything
left of OLE Peter!"
Satan
was well aware he had to get permission
from God to do this. He presented himself
before
God. It really annoyed him that he could do
nothing
without first obtaining permission like a
child.
It was an insult!
"If I
had my way, he grumbled, I'd immediately
destroy every believer in Christ! After all,
was
not his mission to 'steal, kill, and
destroy?"
But no all he could do was
what God allowed
him to.
When
God granted him permission he
was jubilant! He knew Peter was always
messing up!
He
thought back to the time Peter and
the other
disciples argued over which of them was going to
betray Christ.
Peter
had been in the midst of the
strife that
had arisen over which of them should be
accounted the greatest!
He chuckled gleefully with smug
satisfaction.
"Pride!
I get a lot of folks with that one!
Meanwhile, Jesus was with Peter He told him,
"Peter,
Satan wants you. He wants to sift
you like wheat, but
I have prayed for you, that
your faith will not fail."
Peter brashly, boldly declared. "Lord, I
am ready to go with you anywhere!
I am
even ready to go with you
until death! Jesus, knowing what would
happen looked
sadly at Peter and said, "Peter, you will
deny
me three
times before the cock crows.
But
after you are
converted, strengthen the
brethren."
Satan asked to sift Peter so that nothing
good
was
left. God allowed this because He had a
different goal in mind. He permitted the
sifting
so that the good would be left and the chaff
(bad)
would be removed.
Biblical references to 'sifting' wheat was
the process of separating or filtering the
good from the bad, the wheat from the chaff.
Sifting is used to purify a product. The
process involved winnowing wheat on large
forks with six prongs. The forks were waved
in the wind until the chaff blew off.
Undesirable chaff would at times cling
tenaciously to the fork.
The women then took the wheat and put it in
a
large
sifter, wrapping their arms around it
and
shaking it
back and forth. This was done
until all
the chaff was
gone and all that remained was
the
best wheat. This process allowed the
undesirable to
be 'winnowed out'
without
destroying the wheat.
God has His own mission when He allows Satan
to sift us. He wants us to be conformed to
the image
of His Son, Jesus Christ.
God has the final say in our lives and
grants Satan only limited influence. God allows
testing and
trials, but Satan cannot go beyond the
boundaries He
has set. He has
promised to never leave or
forsake us
and everything
that happens is
first filtered through His
loving hands. He takes what Satan meant for
harm
and turn it to our good and His glory.
Romans 8:28..." And we know that all things
work
together for good to them that love God, to
them who
are the called according to His purpose."
His purpose is
to conform us to the image of His Son.
"Sifters" Satan may use include:
Physical Suffering
Financial Hardship
Temptations Career
Family
Among many others. He will 'suit' the sifter to the person.
When we are suffering it is hard not to
question
why God, who loves us so much, would allow
such.
But He allows this because He loves us! When
we are
suffering, we reevaluate our priorities, we
slow down
and are forced to look at where we are and where we
need to be.
In financial difficulties, we realize that
God is our
source,
and we must depend on Him. He has
promised to meet all
our needs.
In temptations, we rely on the Word to help
us
combat them. Jesus repeated, "It is
written."
Although we have to work in this life,
(if a man don't work, let him not eat) we
need to realize that the 'people' in our
lives
are more important than
possessions.
Sadly, too many people realize this too
late.
Responses to being 'sifted' are as varied as
the
people.
We may fight against it, whining and
complaining
trying to escape the sifting.
We may try to blame God, or others. The
'blame game'
is a favorite tool of our adversary. As long
as we
blame God or someone else we will never
accept
the responsibility, never admit that we, ourselves are to blame for the situation we are in.
Wrong choices lead to adverse situations!
We may try to 'escape' the sifting, aborting
the purpose God had in mind in allowing the
sifting to take place. The Israelites went
around the same mountain for forty years!
C.S. Lewis said: "God whispers to us in our
pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but
shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to
rouse a dead world."
Friends, if you are being sifted by Satan
now, I want you to remember these things:
Satan asks for you by name
Satan can only go so far
God is in control!
The suffering is purifying you and getting
rid of the things that shouldn't be in your
life. You are being conformed to the image
of Jesus, becoming more and more like Him,
going from glory to glory.
(2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
"For our light affliction, which is but for
a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While
we look not a the things which are seen, but
at the things which are not seen. For the
things which are seen are temporal; but the
things not seen are eternal.
God is the God of all comfort!
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