The threshing floor in scripture is a place of separation and revelation. A place where the harvest was prepared by separating the grain from the useless straw for the purpose of exposing and collecting the most valuable part of the crop.

Once the harvest is gathered, the practice of threshing begins with intentional destruction. This technique typically involved crushing the crop under the weight of a sledge or grinding wheel attached to the heavy hooves of oxen. Next, the mixture was tossed into the air allowing the wind to separate the straw from the seed. This process carried the lighter part—the straw—away and allowed the seed to fall and collect on the ground.

The threshing process is a beautiful picture of worship and a metaphor for sanctification. The threshing floor, as a place of worship, is where God’s provision for us is unearthed. Our responsibility is to cooperate with the process and in turn honor Him with the bounty of what is revealed.

This progression of refinement is much like our lives. On a personal level, we too plant seeds and tend to our crops in hopes of a bountiful harvest. We do this in all our relationships, careers, personal aspirations and faith. However, our best efforts often get choked out by the weeds of pride, tares of selfishness, or the chaff of lost hope.

What issue in your life is God asking you to take to the threshing floor? Something that keeps you up at night, a thorn in your flesh, or something you’d like to bury six feet under?

Perhaps you have been running from God and yet He continues to woo you back onto the threshing floor, inviting you into His divine plan of healing and restoration.

He does this not to harass you or cause you undue pain, but in His tender mercy, He wants to open your eyes to what is hidden inside that pain, conflict, or conviction. There are lessons to discover in order to serve and honor Him in from a place of authenticity.

Will it be painful to surrender to His process of refinement? Yes. That’s a guarantee. However, we must submit and offer up our pride, fears, and resentments to the winnowing breath of the Holy Spirit. It’s in this place of wholehearted surrender that God can, and will, move powerfully to heal your heart and take you to new depths of relationship with Him.

We have important lessons to learn about who God has made us to be. We were designed by the Creator of the universe to be powerful, honorable, and useful in our sphere of influence. What do you say? Are you ready to surrender to the process? Bring it all and meet me at the threshing floor. We have important work to do.

Reflect and Respond: This week, I would like to propose a challenge—choose a painful situation or an issue that has kept you stuck in fear, insecurity, anger or shame and take it to the threshing floor. God is waiting for you there.

Remember, you are not alone. Be blessed as you allow the threshing process to reveal a more authentic and healthier you!