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Key Bible Verses: Friends, when life gets really difficult, don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner. (1 Peter 4:12-13, The message) Dig Deeper: 1 Peter 4:12-19

George MacDonald writes [in Guild Court]:

"It is the kindest thing God can do for his children, sometimes, to let them fall in the mire. You would not hold by your Father's hand; you struggled to pull it away; he let it go, and there you lay. Now that you stretch forth the hand to him again, he will take you, and clean, not your garments only, but your heart, and soul, and consciousness."

So the men in that Upper Room, well aware of how a sifting operation actually works, must have felt chills race down their spines when Jesus used the word to describe what was about to happen to them. And Jesus, far from standing in the way of the sifting Accuser, acts like a bullfighter and waves him on. It will be the most devastating assault on his identity Peter has ever experienced. It will produce the same magnitude of despair that later drives Judas to suicide. Even so, Jesus looks him in the eye and matter-of-factly predicts Peter will be there when the dust clears and the sifting is finished. He will, Jesus assures, return to "strengthen his brothers."

—Rick Lawrence in Sifted

My Response: Something good that came out of a time of sifting was …

Thought to Apply: Trials are winds which root the tree of our faith.—Charles Spurgeon (British preacher)

Adapted from Sifted (David C. Cook, 2011) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2012 by Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Heavenly Father, impress on my heart that you can bring good out of evil (Gen. 50:20), use difficulties to shape my character (Rom. 5:3-4), and teach me godly principles through suffering's lessons (Ps. 119:71).

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