Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

June 20– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“I will sift the house of Israel among the nations, like wheat in a sieve; but not even the smallest grain will fall to the earth.” 

—Amos 9:9

Every sifting comes to us by divine command and permission. Satan had to have the Lord’s permission before he laid a finger on Job. And today’s passage tells us that in some sense the siftings we endure are directly the work of heaven. Satan may eagerly hold the sieve with the intent to destroy the wheat, but the overruling hand of the Master is accomplishing the purity of the grain by these very means.

If you are among the precious wheat of the Lord, be comforted by the blessed fact that the Lord is directing the whole process with great precision for his glory and for your eternal profit.

The Lord Jesus will use whatever means necessary to divide the precious from the vile. The pile of grain on the barn floor is not yet pure, so the winnowing process is necessary. In the sieve true weight alone has power. Husks and chaff have no substance and are blown away by the wind. Only the solid grains of wheat remain.

But notice the complete safety of the Lord’s wheat; even the least grain will be preserved. God’s sifting is quite thorough and yet not the smallest, lightest, or most shriveled grain will be wasted. Every individual believer is precious in the sight of the Lord; a shepherd would not lose one sheep, nor a jeweler one diamond, nor a mother one child, and the Lord will not lose one of his redeemed people. However little we may be, if we are the Lord’s, we may rejoice that we are preserved in Christ Jesus. [M&E]