Sift You as Wheat

(Written on August 8th, 2014. Edited November 2nd, 2016.)

"Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat."

(Luke 22:31, 3 Nephi 18:18)

There are certain times in our walk with the Lord that will include sifting. We have trials, tests, and difficulties, all of which are part of God's plan for us. Though painful and tiresome, this sifting has a definite, specific purpose. We need the sifting to be purged from pride, remove the chaff from our lives, and be worthy to enter the presence of the Lord at the last day.

In order to sift out edible grain from the chaff, one throws the wheat onto the ground in a threshing process. In the day this analogy was made, Christ's day, this ground was most likely stone and the wheat was beaten with a flail, which is basically a metal rod with chains on the end. Sometimes the flail had a ball with spikes. Sifting hurts. The next step in sifting is called winnowing. Workers would throw the wheat into the air, and the breeze would separate the chaff from the grain. The grain which was heavier would land back on the stone floor, and the chaff would be taken by the breeze.

If you notice, Jesus identified Simon Peter and the Nephites as wheat and not chaff. He knew that they would be shaken, tossed, and beaten in their faith. The sifting of wheat was absolutely necessary, though, to expose disease and chaff and root it out. If this is the nature of the process, why then does Satan want to sift us as wheat?

Sifting is a turbulent process of separating the pure from the impure, the useful from the useless. This process is the way both the Savior and the adversary may harvest us.

Jesus doesn’t pray for his disciples to be spared the sifting. He doesn’t reach magically into Simon’s soul and fix his problems so he wouldn’t need to go through anything hard. Christ instead prayed that their faith would be kept strong. When we respond to our sifting with confession and repentance, the result is a freeing, clean, humbled new state. However, Satan wants us in his harvest as well, and it is amid the violent process of the sifting that he can do so. We must fight to keep the faith.

Bruce R. McConkie said, "In essence and thought content Jesus is saying, ‘Peter, Satan wants you in his harvest. He wants to harvest your soul, and bring you into his granary, into his garner, where he will have you as his disciple.’ It is the same figure that we use when we say that the field is white, already to harvest. And we go out and preach the gospel and harvest the souls of men. Well, Satan wanted Peter; he wanted to sift him as wheat or to harvest his soul.” 

Jesus Christ wants you in his harvest. Let Him sift you as wheat, so that you may stand spotless at the last day.