452 SIFTED AS WHEAT
^ Now, about a week or fortnight after this, I was much followed by this Scripture, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you." And sometimes it would sound so loud within me, yea, and as it were call so strongly after me, that once above all the rest, I turned my head over my shoulder, thinking verily that some man had, behind me, called me : being at a great distance, methought he called so loud. It came, as I have thought since, to have stirred me up to prayer and to watchfulness; it came to acquaint me that a cloud and storm was coming down upon me ; but I understood it not.^
The Lord's words, addressed specially to Simon, give to the whole circle of the disciples an indication of — I. Danger. II. Defence. III. Duty.
Danger.
"Behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat **
1. All the disciples were in danger. The Saviour here fore- warns the whole band of Apostles that Satan had asked to have them, that he might sift them as wheat. Hitherto he had only been permitted to sift them with a gentle agitation. Now he sought permission to shake them violently, as wheat is shaken in the sieve ; to toss them to and fro with sharp and sudden tempta- tions; to distract their minds with dismal forebodings and apprehensions, in the hope that they would be induced to let go their fast hold of Faith, and take refuge in utter and irretrievable defection. Our Lord states this plainly, because it was important for them to know the full extent of their danger, in order that they might be on their guard. He does not tell them so plainly how far Satan's assault upon them would be attended with suc- cess. His disclosure stops short just where it would appear to be most interesting to His hearers. And this is generally the case with the Divine communicationc. Vain man would always like to be told more than it is good for him to know. But God draws the line, not with reference to our curiosity, but with reference to His ^ Bunyan, Ch-ace Abounding.
ST. LUKE XXII. 31, 32 453
own gracious purposes for our well-being. The Saviour warns His disciples of their danger, to induce them to watch and pray. If He had told them more — if He had revealed to them all that was to happen within the next twenty-four hours — they would have considered their fate as sealed, and would have given way to utter despair. But, while withholding this information, He told them something else which, instead of harming, was calculated to encourage and help them. Having excited their fears, by telling them what their adversary purposed against them, He threw into the opposite scale the cheering intelligence of what He would do and had already done for them. He told them, that He had chosen one of them, whom He would take under His special protection — not for the sake of that individual alone, but in order that his preservation might be the means of saving them all.
Satan desires us, great and small, As wheat to sift us, and we all
Are tempted; Not one, however rich or great, Is by his station or estate
Exempted.
No house so safely guarded is But he, by some device of his,
Can enter; No heart hath armour so complete But he can pierce with arrows fleet
Its centre.
For all at last the cock will crow, Who hear the warning voice, but go
Unheeding, Till thrice and more they have denied The Man of Sorrows, crucified
And bleeding.
One look of that pale suffering face Will make us feel the deep disgrace
Of weakness; We shall be sifted till the strength Of self-conceit be changed at length
To meekness.
454 SIFTED AS WHEAT
Wounds of the soul, though healed, will ache; The reddening scars remain, and make
Confession ; Lost innocence returns no more; We are not what we were before
Transgression.
But noblel souls, through dust and heat, Eise from disaster and defeat
The stronger, And conscious still of the divine Within them, lie on earth supine
No longer.^
(1) The devil has not only sought them; he has obtained them, that he may sift them as wheat. The words are even stronger than the Authorized Version renders them ; it is not only " Satan hath desired," but " Satan hath obtained his desire." We might even translate them, " Satan hath got hold of you." And the pronoun is plural; it was not only Peter, but all the twelve, that Satan had desired, and had for a space obtained. The one who was always the ready spokesman for the rest, and who, through his impetuous rashness, was to thrust himself into the fire of temptation, was to give the most flagrant proof of Satan's possession, in that he would deny with cursings his Master and his discipleship ; but all were to be overtaken and to be found wanting, in that they would forsake their Lord in His dire ex- tremity, and would leave Him in the hands of His foes. Satan had desired and had gained them all.
Twice in the New Testament this figure of sifting or winnow- ing is brought before us, and, strange to say, the sifter or winnower in the one case is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and in the second case the wicked tempter. St. John the Baptist, when speaking of the coming Messiah, says, " Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his fioor," etc. And here we have that very Messiah speaking of the devil sifting even His Apostles. By " sifting " is meant testing, shaking those to whom the process is applied in sucli a way that part will fall through and part will remain.