六月二十日

我必出令，將以色列家分散在列國中，好像用篩子篩谷，連一粒也不落在地上。（摩9：9）

我們每一次經過篩子篩都是出于神的命令和允准。當撒但加手在約伯身上的時候，必須得到神的允許他才能去。我們經過篩，也可說是天父直接的工作，因爲經上說：“我必篩以色列家。”（改譯）撒但像雇工一樣，或許他手裏拿著篩子，想把穀毀壞了，但是大權却操在全地的大主宰手裏，他要籍這過程潔淨穀，而仇敵却欲藉此施行毀壞。

神的倉中最寶貴的穀都是已經篩過的，但是想到禾耙和篩子都是直接操在神的手裏，他爲了他的榮耀和我們永久的好處才加在我們身上，那末我們就當得安慰幷要贊美他。主耶穌當然要使用他手中的扇子，要把寶貴的和卑賤的、好的和壞的分開。以色列人中不都是以色列人；倉中的穀不都是乾淨的糧食，因此篩簸的工作是少不了的。在篩子裏真正有分量的東西才有力量。糠秕必在風前被吹散，只留下粒粒堅實的穀粒。神的谷粒必然十分安全，就是最小的顆粒也有被保全的應許。

神自己篩，因此是一種嚴格而可怕的工作；他到處篩他們“在列國中”，他篩得很徹底、很有效，“連一粒也不落在地上”，一切穀粒，最小、最輕、最癟的穀都不會落在地上。每一位信徒在神的眼中都是寶貴的；牧人不肯失去一隻羊，珠寶商不肯失去一粒金鋼石，母親不願失去一個孩子，人人都不願失去身體的任何一部份，照樣神也不願失去一個得贖的人。不論我們多麽微小，只要我們是屬神的，我們就當快樂，因爲我們必在基督耶穌裏被保守。

June 20

"For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." -- Amos 9:9

Every sifting comes by divine command and permission. Satan must ask leave before he can lay a finger upon Job. Nay, more, in some sense our siftings are directly the work of heaven, for the text says, "I will sift the house of Israel." Satan, like a drudge, may hold the sieve, hoping to destroy the corn; but the overruling hand of the Master is accomplishing the purity of the grain by the very process which the enemy intended to be destructive. Precious, but much sifted corn of the Lord's floor, be comforted by the blessed fact that the Lord directeth both flail and sieve to His own glory, and to thine eternal profit.

The Lord Jesus will surely use the fan which is in His hand, and will divide the precious from the vile. All are not Israel that are of Israel; the heap on the barn floor is not clean provender, and hence the winnowing process must be performed. In the sieve true weight alone has power. Husks and chaff being devoid of substance must fly before the wind, and only solid corn will remain.

Observe the complete safety of the Lord's wheat; even the least grain has a promise of preservation. God Himself sifts, and therefore it is stern and terrible work; He sifts them in all places, "among all nations"; He sifts them in the most effectual manner, "like as corn is sifted in a sieve"; and yet for all this, not the smallest, lightest, or most shrivelled grain, is permitted to fall to the ground. Every individual believer is precious in the sight of the Lord, a shepherd would not lose one sheep, nor a jeweller one diamond, nor a mother one child, nor a man one limb of his body, nor will the Lord lose one of His redeemed people. However little we may be, if we are the Lord's, we may rejoice that we are preserved in Christ Jesus.