Being Screwed Tightly: Faith Tested Like Wheat

 

Winnowing_Grain__1877-1879The process of separating the chaff of the wheat is called winnowing.  The chaff is blown away by the wind by the person shaking the winnow back and forth.  This picture is used by Jesus to frame the prediction of Peter’s denial, and the great upheaval he and the disciples would face when their Master (i.e. Rabbi) is being led away to the cross.  This is what He says to Peter:

“Simon, Simon! Listen! Stan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good form the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail.  And when you turn back to Me, you must strengthen your brothers.” – Lk. 2231-32 (GNT)

Satan, like an old roaring lion, wanting to destroy his faith will, shake Peter to the core of his being.  Knowing of Peter’s weakness, the Master assured him by saying that He has prayed for him so that his “faith will not fail.”  Being stubborn and in spite of this strong warning from Jesus and His consultation, Peter still denied the Master to those around him that he did not know Him at all – be advised that this is NOT a failure of his faith, but of his courage.

Our faith is the target when God tries us, and if anything, Fiery_Furnaceelse escapes untried, you can bet top dollar that our faith will not be one of them.  There is nothing more piercing to our faith to the sinew and marrow like the hunter’s arrow of desertion – whether it be from this world or not.  Our faith must be tried, and the desertion is only but the furnace that is heated 7 times that we are shoved into.  To survive the whole ordeal is to be blest!

Have you “denied” the Master?  While we didn’t lie like Peter did, but in our behavior we did. After Peter realized that after he denied the Master, he “went out and wept bitterly.” [v. 62] When we return back to the Master, He greets us with outstretched arms of forgiveness, recovery and a restored call to service.  I am sure that you and I - as well as Peter – that Satan is given permission according to God’s will to allow him to shoot his hunter’s arrow into our faith to sift us “as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff.”

“In the hour of trial,
Jesus, pray for me,
Lest, by base denial,
I depart from Thee
When Thou sees me waver,
With a look recall,
Nor, for fear or favor,
Suffer me to fall.” –  Montgomery

Satan's turning of the screw is no match if you hug strongly to the Oak Tree of God’s power.

Location: Hollywood, FL 33025, USA

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