Day 10: The Sifter
It’s impossible to talk about development without understanding that there are seasons in which we are sifted. What this means is that even if the seed is perfect, the soil is developed and the time for the sun to reach the seed is given, we still experience seasons that are unlike any other. We can experience a shaking that is not related to personal decisions or human activity. We don’t always understand why something is happening to us when we are doing everything right. But God allows sifting and it can strengthen us.
One of the main characters in the Bible that we see this happen to is a man named Job. He had everything going for him! He was wealthy, powerful, happily married and a doting father. One moment everything was wonderful and the next moment he had lost everything. The Bible says Satan asked God if he could sift Job and God said yes. Even Job’s friends told him to curse God and die. It must have been pretty bad for them to say something like this. We can be confident that God is not punishing us but trusting us with the weight of such an experience. The Bible says that when we have to persevere we build our faith. How many of us know that without having weight we don’t build muscle? I like to call it, ‘building a history with God.’ Your ability to build your own personal history with God gives you authority and authenticity.