“May I borrow your sifter?”
My neighbor stood at the door. She was making something special in her kitchen, and she needed a sifter to do it. It used to be that a flour sifter was as essential in the kitchen as a wooden spoon. But these days, not everyone feels a need to have one as the flour we purchase usually comes “pre-sifted.”
There’s lots of jobs where sieves and sifters are needed, though. Tiny ones are indispensable in the kitchen for sifting tea and powdered sugar. Medium ones are still needed to aerate dry ingredients for baking. There are commercial sieves for evaluating the uniformity of granular material and some for separating the sand, clay, and rocks found in a soil sample. Gold prospectors use sieves to strain out fine gold and valuable iron particles from their diggings.
You will notice that a sifter or sieve could be used two ways:
- To sift the BAD from the GOOD—separating out the useless lumps of debris while allowing the pure material to fall through; or
- To sift the GOOD from the BAD—isolating the desired elements while letting the worthless stuff filter away and be discarded.
That’s an important distinction when reading Luke 22:31-32. “The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired (to have) you, that he may SIFT you as wheat …” (KJV)
First, we read that Jesus said, “Simon, SIMON … listen!!” You can almost see Jesus taking Peter’s face in both His hands and saying, “Look at me, Simon Peter!! I need your full attention! What I’ve got to tell you is important!”
“Satan has desired YOU. He’s asked for permission to test you—to SIFT you like a farmer sifts his wheat.”
In biblical times, wheat or other grains were sifted through a sieve or large strainer. As it was tossed and turned and shaken violently, the dirt and other impurities that clung to the grain would separate and fall away, leaving only the good, usable seed.
In the above passage, commentators have guessed that Satan’s purpose, in his desire to “sift” Peter (and the other disciples) “like wheat”, was to destroy their faith. However, I would tend to disagree. Sieves and sifters aren’t used to destroy a compound—but to separate its contents.
Jesus knew that very soon, Simon Peter would be “tossed and turned and shaken violently” in his faith. Not to destroy it, necessarily, but to show the weakness of it. Certainly, Satan wasn’t looking for what was GOOD in Peter. On the contrary, I believe he wanted to “sift” him to find, to isolate, to reveal his FLAWS. To shake away his strengths and uncover his weaknesses—to sift away all that was good in him and to expose what was worthless. And this is EXACTLY what happened—even before the end of the chapter. When Peter was “shaken” (three times!), he denied his faith.
It’s the same for us. Satan doesn’t care about how much GOOD he can find in us. He’s out to expose our SIN. Every defect, blemish, fault, and failing.
However, Jesus had something more to tell Peter that day. “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Jesus was concerned with one thing: not Peter’s faults, but his FAITH.
If Jesus has a prayer request, this is it!! That our FAITH in HIM would remain strong. The fact is, Jesus Himself also does some “sifting.” When trials come, it’s just the sifting of the LORD to find what is GOOD in us—the GOLD. He desires to help us identify and retain what is strong in us—what is pure, virtuous, and worthy—discarding the debris of sin. He sifts us to help us hold fast to our FAITH and free us from our doubts—retaining our HOPE and releasing despair. “ … so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.” (Hebrews 12:27 GNT)
Jesus had one more piece of instruction for Peter. He said, “… and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” In other words, “Peter, when you turn from your weakness and your faith is restored, use it to encourage and build the faith of others.” Jesus foreknew that Peter would deny Him—that his faith would fall through the mesh of Satan’s sifter. But his faithlessness would only be temporary. Peter would indeed find his faith again, and it would be stronger than ever after the sifting.
Paul says that we are “treasures in very fragile containers” (2 Cor. 4:7). Satan wants to shake and break us to show just how fragile we are. His sifting is intended to make us think that we contain nothing but our faults. But the purpose of God’s sifting is the opposite—He desires to prove our value as His TREASURE. “The purpose of these trials is so that your trust’s genuineness, which is far more valuable than perishable gold, will be judged worthy of praise, glory and honor at the revealing of Yeshua the Messiah.” (1 Peter 1:7 CJB)
Through the power of the Holy Ghost (which is something Peter didn’t yet possess in the passage referenced above), God has provided us grace in advance. It’s a kind of “pre-sifting” that helps us stay strong and endure the sifting of the Enemy when it comes.
SIFTED by God’s GRACE, “you were washed [by the atoning sacrifice of Christ], you were sanctified [set apart for God, and made holy], you were justified [declared free of guilt] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11 AMP)
Prayer: “Sift me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me.” I need not fear the sifting of the Enemy, for by the power of the Holy Ghost, I am sanctified, set apart … and, by GRACE, pre-SIFTED! Amen!
