Purification Is The Result Of Agitation

It has been said that the farmer sifts his wheat because it is precious to him, and that he doesn’t mean to destroy the grain when he places it in the sieve.  The purpose is purification.

Amos 9:9 tells us that, “‘I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost.”

Israel shaken.  As grain is shaken through a sieve.

And sometimes don’t you feel as though that’s what’s happening?

I do.

And maybe it’s what we’re feeling now with the happenings in our world.
There’s a sifting taking place.
A winnowing.
A threshing.
Like wheat through a sieve, we’re experiencing a refinement of sorts.
And it’s not necessarily a pleasant ordeal.

Daily, it seems, many of us are encountering trials that seem overwhelming and obstacles that feel impassable.  The external conflicts look to be gravely affecting our inward stability, and as our nation suffers, the hearts of man lie in risk of setback in their spiritual lives.

But when we read it in Amos, we can’t help but see the saving in the sifting.

Charles Spurgeon say that, “Every sifting comes by divine command and permission.”
Nothing happens apart from the command of our God, whose central purpose is for our good.  While satan may hold the sieve, and assume the role of destroyer, what was meant to completely abolish is being used by our good Father to purify, and restore.  By the very means the enemy intended to ravage, our divine Master meant to redeem.

It’s a strange dichotomy.
And might not make sense when it’s happening.
But purification will be the result of agitation.

Spurgeon says this, “The daily temptations are the discoveries of sincerity, the detectives of delusion, the exposers of hypocrisy, and the beacons of wisdom.”
Oh how good is this!
Many are headed for destruction who never know what it’s like to face a trial.
Because it’s in the trial that true character is formed.
It is when we are faced with difficulty that our sincerity in surrender is discovered.
It is those painful experiences that serve as detectives to any deception we are ruled by.
It is through the hardships that any insincerity is exposed.

The sifting, while unpleasant at the time, is necessary.  The sifting of character and conduct is made profitable through the conditions that seem most strenuous and unpalatable.

Personal adversity tries our character as corn is sifted through a sieve.  It is said that we discover what people are “really made of” when faced with any degree of misfortune.

But God is in the business of sifting and separating out the ones who successfully overcome and remain confident in their declaration of victory.

God will chasten… He will place us in a sieve with the purpose of purifying all that is within us that must be sifted out.  And this process requires a level of agitation which, though uncomfortable, is most valuable.

The promise is the saving grace of our Lord and Savior… “yet not one true kernel will be lost.”
“Husks and chaff, being devoid of substance, must fly before the wind, and only solid corn will remain.”  - Spurgeon.

There is complete safety for the Lord’s wheat - even the least grain that demonstrates goodness, has a promise of preservation.

Purification… the process of being made clean, is the result of agitation… conflict and disturbance.  And in the end, the most precious commodity shall remain.

God, purify me.  Strengthen me.  Refine me for Your good work.
May the result of my current conflict serve to disinfect any impurity that separates me from holiness and my godly pursuit.