"Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;
And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you."
3 Nephi 18:18-20
This is an interesting scripture in a lot of ways. I love the reminder to watch and pray always, and that our relationship with God is what saves us from temptation and other negative consequences.
The "sift you as wheat" part seemed kind of strange to me at first, because this is something that God also says he will do, right? In Matthew 3:12 it says that God will "gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Getting rid of the bad parts of ourselves seems like it is going to happen either way.
What protects us from Satan's sifting is praying to the Father in the name of Christ, which got me thinking about the atonement and why that had to happen. Christ satisfies justice for us, in order to extend us mercy... he grants us a space between sin and death where, if we choose to do so, we can repent and change... and that, I think is the difference between Satan's sifting and God's. Timing. That essential time that we need to realize our mistakes and learn from them... that priceless space that Christ bought us to choose for ourselves what we want to become, despite mistakes. God doesn't sift us until the very end, when we've had time to grow and develop and become more wheatlike and less chafflike. :) Satan wants to sift us now, and we clearly aren't ready for that.
Today, let's pray and develop our relationship with God. Let's thank God for the time and the space we have to learn and grow and choose, and let's ask for his protection and abide in his love, asking for the things that are right, and trusting that he will always help us.
Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;
And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you."
3 Nephi 18:18-20
The "sift you as wheat" part seemed kind of strange to me at first, because this is something that God also says he will do, right? In Matthew 3:12 it says that God will "gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Getting rid of the bad parts of ourselves seems like it is going to happen either way.
What protects us from Satan's sifting is praying to the Father in the name of Christ, which got me thinking about the atonement and why that had to happen. Christ satisfies justice for us, in order to extend us mercy... he grants us a space between sin and death where, if we choose to do so, we can repent and change... and that, I think is the difference between Satan's sifting and God's. Timing. That essential time that we need to realize our mistakes and learn from them... that priceless space that Christ bought us to choose for ourselves what we want to become, despite mistakes. God doesn't sift us until the very end, when we've had time to grow and develop and become more wheatlike and less chafflike. :) Satan wants to sift us now, and we clearly aren't ready for that.
Today, let's pray and develop our relationship with God. Let's thank God for the time and the space we have to learn and grow and choose, and let's ask for his protection and abide in his love, asking for the things that are right, and trusting that he will always help us.
I just wanted to thank you for sharing your perspective and insights about a scripture that previously escaped my attention in the past. I love your point of view here and I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. :)
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