Sifted As Wheat

Matthew 3
12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Psalm 1:4
The wicked are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away.

• Threshing is a separation process. The chaff and the grain are parts of the same plant, they grow alongside each other, but only the grain holds value, only the grain carries within it the life of the plant and the potential to reproduce. The precious grain must be separated from the rest of the plant through a “winnowing” process. This is a turbulent but effective process for sifting out the undesirable waste.
• Both the grain and the chaff have to experience the winds of the winnowing fan. The grain, weighty with life, remains but the dry, empty chaff is blown away. Much like the houses of the wise man and the foolish man, both houses are built carefully and they may exist side by side as neighbours for years but it is when the storm comes that the foundations are proved.
• The storm MUST come. The storms WILL come. They have been ordained to come! It is a necessary and vital process in the individual and collective lives of believers. It is in the storms and trials that the flesh is shown to be dry, hardened and easily swept away but the life of Christ is revealed as precious hope, grounded and fruitful. We are told plainly to expect the storms and trials, that they WILL come, “When” not ‘if”!

Luke 22
31 “Simon, Simon (Peter), listen! Satan has demanded permission to sift [all of] you like grain;

John 16
33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you will have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

James 1
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

1 Peter 1
6 In this you should greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations,
7 So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is proven and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to result in your praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

• So then battles, trials, sickness and suffering are precious and welcome opportunity for God’s children! They endure suffering knowing that the life of Christ is being revealed, the flesh is being dealt with and that Jesus’ testimony is being demonstrated and proven in His people. The Born Again believer rejoices in the Sovereignty of God and seeks occasion, in all things, to submit to The Father’s Will and to glorify Him. Having a spiritual perspective they do not place emphasis on their suffering but on the Name and testimony of Jesus Christ! They rejoice in His presence, His provision and His tender mercies and loving comforts in His Word.
• The threshing isn’t a pleasant experience. It is turbulence, inconvenience, discomfort, grief. Etc But the life in the grain will fall upon The Lord, the wise man’s house will be seen to stand strong. The grain will rejoice evermore and pray without ceasing, the life of Jesus in a believer will pray with faith, casting (throwing off) all cares onto The Lord. Through the storm HIS LIFE will be revealed in HIS people!
• So what will we be today? Grain, full of Jesus life and His word, abiding in Him, unmoved by the winnowing winds? Or chaff, without substance, easily blown about and blown away by the cares of this life? In EVERY circumstance let us be careful to abide in Jesus and resist the temptation to act/walk in the flesh.

Song of Solomon 4
16 “Awake, O north wind, And come, south wind; Make my garden breathe out fragrance, [for the one in whom my soul delights], Let its spices flow forth. Let my beloved come into his garden And eat its choicest fruits.”