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This week we continue our discussion of chapter 22 of Luke’s Gospel. Please read verses 31-43 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 22:31 (King James Version – KJV)
‘And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:’
I have recently been on a short holiday to Spain and during those few days, I’m ashamed to admit that I ate far too much. The food was very cheap and the portion sizes were huge! In one particular restaurant, I order a large battered fish, thinking that it would be something like I have from a local Fish and Chip shop. What arrived at my table was way beyond my expectations. To begin with, the plate was huge and on it was not just 1 large piece of fish but 2! Plus, there was a very large portion of chips. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it, but it really was a massive meal and I struggled to finish it. The saddest part of all is that I went back a second time to that restaurant and had the same thing again! I have repented of the sin of gluttony though!
Now that I’m back home and back to normal, it’s clear that I’ve gained a considerable amount of weight and need to go back on a serious diet in order to trim this increasing waistline. I went to a supermarket recently and still in holiday mode, I was looking at row upon row of chocolate bars and sweets. They were very tempting but I chose not to buy any. At our restaurant in work, I walked up to the counter and looked at the selection of food on offer. I looked at the burger and chips and I have to say that it was the meal that I most desired, but I didn’t ask for that, choosing to take a small curry and rice instead. The desire was there but I didn’t ask for it.
When we read our verse today in the King James Version, we see the phrase ‘Satan has desired to have you’. Most of us reading that would equate our own desires and just like me desiring a large meal, we think that Satan has the same kind of desire to ‘sift’ Simon Peter. We know that Satan’s desire is to destroy every child of God, so surely this isn’t unexpected. However, when we look at the actual word used in the original language, we see something deeper. The word translated here as ‘desire’ is actually much stronger than that. It really means ‘to ask for’ or ‘to beg for’ with the express desire for torture or punishment. You see, Satan didn’t just ‘desire’ to hurt Simon Peter, he ‘begged’ God to give permission to sift him.
We’ll look more at this tomorrow, but I just want to say that in the same way as God gave permission for Satan to attack Job and his family, God can and clearly does give Satan permission to attack members of His Church. However, I want to assure you that even though we don’t know how this will turn out, we can have absolute confidence that God knows what He’s doing and that His plans for us are not to harm us. Even though Satan can do his best to destroy us, our lives are hidden with Christ in God. We may suffer for a while, but God is working in it all and produces something amazing. We just have to trust Him.
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