“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.”
The Battle
Jesus names a specific request the enemy had made regarding Peter, desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, an image of violent, thorough shaking, worth taking seriously as genuine, targeted intention, not vague, generic opposition, but a specific desire aimed at this specific disciple.
This is worth holding alongside the immediate, following clause, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. The enemy’s genuine desire and request did not go unopposed. Jesus’s own intercession is named directly, active, specific, aimed precisely at the exact threat the enemy had just requested permission to bring.
Notice sifting did not mean prevention of the trial entirely. Peter would still deny Christ three times that same night, genuinely shaken, genuinely tested. What Jesus’s prayer secured was not the absence of sifting, but that thy faith fail not, survival and eventual restoration through the sifting, not exemption from it.
Whatever sifting you may currently be experiencing, or may yet face, trust today that Jesus’s own intercession operates the same way it did for Peter, not necessarily preventing the trial, but securing that faith itself does not ultimately fail, even through genuine shaking this whole ordeal may actually require.
Stand Firm
- Consider whatever sifting you may currently be experiencing, honestly, without minimizing it.
- Trust that Jesus’s own intercession is aimed specifically at your faith not failing through it.
- Remember sifting may not be prevented entirely, but survival through it is genuinely secured.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for interceding, as you did for Peter, that my faith fail not through whatever sifting I currently face. Secure my survival, even through genuine shaking. Amen.
Carry this today
Jesus’s intercession secures survival through sifting, not necessarily exemption from it.