Page 48 - The Divine Quest

The Divine Quest Page 45

presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through
Yahshua Messiah our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all
time and now and forever. Amen.

A part of our faith in the character of God is trusting that He will keep us in the time
of trial. We must believe that He will never suffer the righteous to be overcome by
evil, and that His hand of protection will shelter us in the storm. When the storms
were blowing in my own life, His hand was ever present. He told the Devil that He
could go only so far and no more. He never totally removed His protection from me.
He is like a master metalworker who is watching the temperature of the fire with
great intensity so that it will heat the metal enough for the impurities to rise to the
surface where they can be removed, but not too high that the metal should become
brittle or damaged.

In the book of Job we see this watchfulness of the Lord. Satan had to get permission
to attack Job, and God set precise limits on what Satan could and could not do.

Job 1:9-12
Then Satan answered Yahweh, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made
a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?... Then Yahweh
said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your
hand on him."

In the lives of the saints today, Satan still has to get permission from the Lord to
touch us. We see this revealed in Yahshua’s words to Peter.

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."

In these few words it is revealed that Satan has to get permission to touch the saint.
The Lord will never allow Satan to have a greater access to us than we are able to
bear, and Yahshua also intercedes for us during the trial. This should be a comfort
to all the saints. Consider also the purpose for the testing that Christ allows here. It
states that Satan desired to sift Peter as wheat. When wheat is sifted, the impurities
in the wheat are revealed and are discarded. This produces a beneficial effect in the
life of the saint.

The impurity that was present in Peter’s life was self confidence, a trust in his own
abilities. The next verses reveal this stronghold in Peter’s flesh that had to be broken,
bringing forth a humility in him.