It begins with the raw head of wheat. Wheat is a tall type of grass that is topped with a head of seed. Each seed is covered with a protective layer of growth which the Bible calls chaff.
This protective layer covers the grain until it is ready to either plant in the ground to grow, or process for human consumption. But in order to get to the finished product, that hard, splintery protective layer must be removed. In our modern day we have machines that process the wheat and remove that layer for us. But in Biblical days it had to be done by a process called sifting, or thrashing. The chaff was loosened first either by beating it on the thrashing floor or piling it up and driving oxen over it in order to loosen it.
Then it was thrown into the air to allow the wind to blow the chaff away from the wheat. During the process the actual grain of wheat went through a pretty rough beating.
In Luke 22:31-32, just after the disciples had been discussing which of them would be greater when the Lord established His kingdom, and after Jesus had explained that each of them would hold a special place in the Kingdom, He turned to Peter and said, “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.”
Not long after that Peter did experience just what Jesus was referring to. When Jesus was taken in the Garden of Gethsemane, and all the disciples had fled, a handful followed the caravan of temple soldiers that roughly escorted Jesus to the gathering of the Sanhedrin and the High Priest. John had told them to let Peter in and when they did the familiar story of his denial of Jesus began.
Just as Jesus had prophesied, Peter denied knowing Him three times before the rooster crowed twice.
After the last denial the Bible tells us that Jesus, standing before the High Priest, turned and looked Peter right in the eye. I know Peter’s heart was ripped from his chest as he realized that he wasn’t as dedicated to the Lord as he thought he was.
This began his sifting. I can imagine the whispers of the devil in his ears, “You are a failure. You have let your Lord down in His greatest hour of need. You failed Him. You aren’t who you think you are. You are a coward and will never have a place in His kingdom.”
These words and many more echoed in his ears as he suffered from his own betrayal. His sorrow approached an end when one day he decided that, because he didn’t seem to have what it took to follow Jesus, he would just go back to what he knew best.
“I’m going fishing,” he told the other disciples. They all thought it a good idea and so the found themselves in the same situation as they were in whentheyfirstencountered Jesus.
They had fished all night and had caught not one single, solitary fish. To Peter it must have felt like there was nothing he could do. He was no good at following Jesus. And now he was also a failure at what he had done his whole life.
It was then that they heard a call from the shore. “Children, have you any food?” (John 21:5). “No,” was their shamed answer. “Cast your nets on the other side and you will find some.” They reluctantly did and suddenly their nets were so full that they could hardly get them in. Immediately they recognized that it was Jesus. Peter, eager to make things right with his Lord, jumped from the boat and swam to shore.
He had successfully overcome this beginning of siftings. But just as stated, it was merely the beginning. For the rest of his life, he experienced persecution and suffering, but he spent his life for Jesus overcoming his sifting.
Just like Peter, the devil wants to sift each of us. He beats us spiritually and sometimes physically. We are thrown about and tossed like the wheat.
We may be tempted to just give up; to go back to what we once knew. But let me tell you, as long as the wheat is still intact, you are succeeding. In the midst of your sifting, while you are being tossed and there seems to be no hope, never give in, for when it is finished you will see that it was necessary to get to the good grain.
That product that God is trying to expose requires all the sifting. But when finished you will be a productive, useful grain for the kingdom of God.
It is sometimes a very painful process. We all have chaff that has to be purged from our lives. Just realize that the pain, the long process, is God’s love at work in your life to bring you to your best, for God but also for yourself.