Sitting in the prayer room this morning the
worship team began to sing a line that touched my heart. “I have prayed that
your faith would not fail.” I was struck with the tenderness of the Lord toward
not only Peter but all of us.
The setting was the Last Supper in the upper
room. You know, Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, Peter’s objections, as
recorded in John 13 and somewhere in the mix of the evening they all had a
dispute about who would be the greatest. We really are no different than the first
twelve disciples are we!
It was in this context of wondering who was going
to be considered the greatest that Jesus spoke to Peter specifically and said
in Luke 22:31, 32 “Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for
you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again,
strengthen your brothers.”
Lets consider the word sift. In the Greek it
refers to ‘inward agitation to try one’s faith to the verge of overthrow.
Anyone able to relate to having enough inward agitation to the verge of
overthrow besides me? How about faith in verse 32? Part of the Greek meaning
here is “fidelity, faithfulness, the character of one who can be relied on.”
So here we have Jesus giving Peter a heads up
that the enemy was going to be showing up to mess with him but He gave the
awesome encouragement that He had prayed for him regarding the matter. Jesus
had prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail and part of that prayer included
the concept that Peter would have the character of one who could be relied on!
I don’t know how this might be striking you but
it brought such a comfort to me this morning to know that I am not in this
thing alone but I have the Son of God that prays to His Father that my faith
might not fail when I am ‘sifted’. I also love that He is the one that sees the
beginning to the end. He was not merely seeing Peter’s imminent failure at
faithfulness but the Peter who would request to be crucified upside down
because he was not worthy to die in the manner of his Lord.
