“Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” (Luke 22:31-32)
A sifting is coming in 2008 and beyond! Satan has asked and God said yes, but he didn’t ask for just Peter, Satan asked for you and me too.
n our scripture, Jesus uses the word “you” four times. Three of them are used in the singular sense speaking to Peter specifically. However, when Jesus said, “Satan has asked for you” He used the word, Humeis, which is an irregular plural form of “you.” (Str. #5210) It is similar to the idea of our southern slang “ya’all.” This means that Jesus was speaking in a broader sense and not just to Peter regarding his soon to come threefold denial. Jesus was talking to everyone past, present and future and we would do well to have ears to hear what He is saying. A sifting is surely coming but fear not because there is a purpose and a promise in the course of it all.
In order to unlock the meaning of our key scripture, we need to understand how and more importantly why wheat is harvested. When wheat is ripe and ready to be collected, the farmer cuts the wheat and gathers it into bails called stooks. Next these bails are brought to a floor that is created specifically for threshing – the threshing floor. Basically threshing means to beat the daylights out of the straw with a tool called a flail in order to break down the heads of wheat from the stalk thus severing the desired kernels from the undesired chaff. This is not so pleasant for the wee piece of wheat; the stalk was once its life support.
After the beating is done, a large wooden pitchfork type of tool called a winnowing fan is used to separate the wheat from the straw/chaff. On a windy day the mix is thrown up into the air and the wind, symbolic of the Holy Spirit, blows the chaff away while the wheat, being heavier, falls back to the floor. What you have left are the kernels of wheat.
The precious wheat can now rest awhile in storage, but that is only the first threshing. Remaining on the kernels is the hull. The hull is a tough, protective covering that shields the wheat from pests and disease. Since the hull is not meant for human consumption it too is considered chaff and needs to be removed before the wheat can be enjoyed. This is the purpose of the second threshing, to remove the hard protective shell that encases the vulnerable kernel of wheat that lies within.
The Lord desires the precious wheat that hides
deep inside our heart.
In the second threshing, once again the wheat is sifted, shaken, and thrown up into the air to blow this last portion of chaff, the hull, away. The threshing is much more refined this time because the particles of chaff are so small it is easy for some to slip through the sieve undetected. Are you getting the picture?
I believe the hull represents our flesh, that protective shell of intellect, strength, skill, talent, training etc. These are things that end up protecting us because they keep us from falling on our face. Unfortunately, at the same time this self-preserving mechanism also keeps us from being entirely yielded and utterly dependent upon the Lord. I believe spiritually this is the stage Peter was in when Jesus made His statement. Honestly, I think that’s where many of us find ourselves much more than we care to admit. I know I do.
As believers we are in the storehouse of the Lord. We’ve been severed, separated, and sifted from the “wheat field” of our former world. Little of our old man remains. We are different now; all that junk of our previous life was blown away in the first threshing. We genuinely love the Lord with all our heart and like Peter we’re going to follow Him all the way, even to the difficult crosses that come in our lives. We are confident of who we are in Christ and what He has called us to do.
Herein lies what could be the need for the second threshing. Having confidence in who we are in Christ is not the same thing as having confidence in who Christ is in us. It seems like an insignificant play on words however, I believe it disguises a type of self-sufficient hull. There is nothing wrong with ability and expertise however, sometimes when we know what to do we lean on that more and Him less. If we are leaning on our own knowledge in any area we are not leaning on His. We know that mind-set has got to go, but often we don’t know how to let it go. Or maybe the truth of the matter is that we don’t really have the faith to let it go.
Beloved, letting go is one of the hardest things we will ever have to do and this is why the sifting process is necessary. God uses Satan as His winnowing fan during our sifting in order to remove from our grasp anything that keeps us from holding onto Him and Him alone. That is the purpose for all this “…that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone…” (Deut 8:3). It may seem harsh but the reality is we will never “know” until we let it go.
There is a purpose but there is a promise too!
During the sifting process, the wheat becomes vulnerable as the protective hull is being removed; it is a perfect time for the enemy to attack. Our confidence in Him may grow dim causing us to strive harder or surrender under the pressure giving up on our dreams and destiny. I believe that is why Jesus is committed to pray, HalleluYah! If Jesus says that He is going to pray…there is a reason. It takes tremendous faith to “be still and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46:10) “Knowing” that we do not live by bread alone is the purpose however; it takes a faith that we don’t possess to “be still” and not get up or move in the midst of turmoil. “Being still” defies our two primal instincts – fight or flight; both are a type of hull that’s got to go. We fight by taking matters into our hands or we flee by quitting. Both are an act of our own free will.
Consider how the Lord handled Satan while He was being threshed in the wilderness. The devil was messing with His mind trying to confuse Him so He would rationalize the situation and ultimately take matters into His own hands. Beloved, as soon as we try to bring it into our realm of rationalization our faith begins to fail. Seriously, think about it, faith has no explanation, that’s what makes it faith. Faith doesn’t need to know the how’s and why’s of it all, our human hull does. When we bring the situation into our rationalization, we bring it into the mind/soul realm, Satan’s territory. I have heard it said that the mind is a battlefield and where the war is either won or lost. The bible encourages us to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Rom. 12:2). Because it was Jesus’ custom to spend quality time alone with the Lord, renewing His mind, He knew how to handle this situation. Jesus could have turned the stones into bread anytime He wanted to. He could have rationalized that since God brought water from the rock before why not bread now? But He didn’t. Jesus didn’t test God, He didn’t doubt God, He leaned on God and said “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” (Luke 4:4)
In the face of despair Jesus didn’t get up and He didn’t give up, Peter did. I’m sure in his mind Peter rationalized that it was going to turn out differently. I bet he felt like a failure afterwards and those feelings could have been what caused him to emotionally quit and go back to his former fisherman life. But Peter didn’t fail; he just wasn’t as strong as he thought he was. He wasn’t disqualified, Jesus knew this day was coming and He prayed that Peter would make it through. You see, God placed a destiny in Peter long before he was even born. Nothing he could do would add or subtract from that. He was destined to be the rock that the church of Christ was built upon, but Peter wasn’t going to build it, Jesus was.
When Jesus said, “follow me” (Matt 4:19) the sifting began for Peter and after the resurrection He said it again. Stripped of all he thought would make him of some worth to God, Peter followed Jesus just as he was – broken, weak, humble, and vulnerable. That beloved, is the precious wheat God was waiting for. Without the hull, God could fulfill Peter’s destiny making him edible wheat upon which He could build His church and “feed His sheep.” (Jn. 21:17)
It is true, God is bringing a sifting and the process is the same for every piece of wheat that says, “Yes, Lord I will follow You.” It is the Divine reduction that must come. We must decrease in order for Him to increase. It is the sifting that will bring us to our destiny, and that, beloved, is the ultimate purpose of the harvest, to become the edible portion of wheat for God and for His glory. Amen.
Behold the “wheat” of the Lord …let it be done to me according to Thy word.
