"Sifted"

"The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth." (Psalms 79:2) If you were paying attention, the father never really let his son finish his plea; actually, he was having none of that, 'Let me be as one of your servants' kind of talk; as far as the father was concerned, his son was back home, and he never stopped being his son. The way I have come to understand things, we have consequence for our actions, but those consequences are actually part of the restoration process. In other words, they become the 'but it just so happens' part of the healing and the deliverance. If one could see a small example of what that might look like, we could look at Samson in the Book of Judges. He was a man who served God, but made many wrong choices in the process; and his final wrong choice was one that cost him his eye sight and his freedom, and eventually, his life. His example is one of the few where you have someone giving their life in the arena, almost as if it were suicide. But it just so happens, Samson killed more Philistines in his death than he did in his life. (Judges 16:30) If you wanted another, you could look a Simon Peter. (I hope I can get though this, because it's already tearing at my heart, and I haven't even started.) Simon Peter was the kind of a man's man, one who most people would want to have around in case there might be some trouble, or in case you needed a go to guy. I have no doubt that Peter truly believed in his heart that he was strong enough to not abandon the Lord in His hour of need; but as Pastor Matt explained yesterday, we are all never as strong as we think that we are. This flesh is weak and our hearts are deceiving; there is just no getting around it, we are corrupted to the core. And no matter how hard we might try, or how much we think otherwise, this flesh cannot stand up to the spiritual testing; it will break and be devoured in the spiritual arena. Jesus knew that, and He was trying to tell His disciples that, but Peter was not having it; Peter actually thought he had what it took, and that he could withstand whatever might come at him. The problem was not obvious, because the problem came from within...
"This is what the LORD, the God is Israel says: I made a covenant with your ancestors long ago when I rescued them from their slavery in Egypt. I told them that every Hebrew slave must be freed after serving six years. But your ancestors paid no attention to me. Recently you repented and did what was right, following my command. You freed your slaves and made a solemn covenant with me in the Temple that bears my name. But now you have shrugged off your oath and defiled my name by taking back the men and women you had freed, forcing them to be slaves once again. Therefore, this is what the LORD says: Since you have not obeyed me by setting your countrymen free, I will set you free to be destroyed by war, disease, and famine. You will be an object of horror to all the nations of the earth. Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows. Yes, I will cut you apart, whether you are officials of Judah or Jerusalem, court officials, priests, or common people -for you have broken your oath. I will give you to your enemies, and they will kill you. Your bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals." (Jeremiah 34:13-20) NLT