The Threshing Floor

The Picture of the threshing floor in the Old and New Testament is one of my favorite pictures. This entry is a continuation of yesterdays...so if you did not read that one I would encourage you to go back and read the "irritation of the inner man"

When we allow God to put us thru trials...to take us thru hurts... to show us our wounds. We become more complete....we can really start producing good fruit in our lives. ( Matt 3:8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance) Which is what he commands from us, that we produce lasting fruit. Which only comes from working out our issues... allowing God to come and really enter the deeps places of our heart where hurt and sin lie.

Matt 3:10-12

¹⁰The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹"I baptize you with^b]">[b] water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

This can be a rather ominous verse for those who don't really know what it means. Or it can look like a verse that is threatening us into repentance. But its not..again...this is a verse of hope.

In the old days there was something called the threshing floor. The workers would go out into the field and gather all the wheat they could. Now when they gathered this wheat, the chaff, or weeds, would get mixed in with the good wheat.

When they were done gathering they would bring all the wheat they had collected down to the "Threshing Floor". This was where the wheat would be separated from the chaff (weeds). When done they would store all the wheat, but then burn up the chaff.

Ok, so lets tie this into our life. Weather we know it or not, God is always putting our heart on the threshing floor....wanting to burn up everything that is not of him, all the sin, all the hurt, everything that does not benefit us he wants to Burn. Whether we realize it or not...as we go thru life...even our life with seeking God, we pick up chaff. Because of the fact that we live in a fallen sinful world.

This can be a painful process, if we fight against it. What we don't realize that this threshing floor process is for our benefit. It is so we can be made more like him, so that everything in our hearts can be purified. Our motives....our sin....our hurts.

For every believer he WILL put our hearts on the threshing floor. The first question is...will we go voluntarily. Will we fight this process out of fear of not wanting to deal with past hurts and presents sins. Our of fear that God will punish us. Or will we see the grace that is offered in the threshing floor. That when we voluntarily put our hearts on the threshing floor he keeps all the wheat (the good stuff in our lives). The love, joy, peace, the way you help others, your inner life with him, that is the wheat that he will keep. Then the others things that hold us down, he will burn away. Don't we want our chains gone...don't we want them burned off of us?

Beloved, this process is such a blessing. That HE wants to take away everything that hinders our walk with him. We only make it hard because we don't trust the process. We don't trust that when we present our heart to God, that HE will actually show us mercy and kindness. That mercy is him doing away with the darkness of our heart.

Do not be afraid of the threshing floor. Go to it...present your hearts to HIM...the only one who can take the impure..and make it pure. Its so worth it, press in, let him do it, then move on and see the beauty of Mercy and of Grace. Its worth it beloved. He loves you...and he desires that you walk in freedom!