The threshing floor

Have you ever thought… if God loves me, then why do I have to go through difficulties?

God has made us wonderful promises “I will cause my people and their homes around my holy hill to be a blessing. And I will send showers, showers of blessings, which will come just when they are needed.” (Ezekiel 34:26)  “The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens to bless all the work you do”. (Deuteronomy 28:12) 

Have you noticed that many times when we read in the Bible about God’s blessings, due season and obedience are mentioned right beside them?  And most of the time that perfect timing comes as we pass through hard things.  

God doesn’t want us to take shortcuts when it comes to growing, learning and letting go of unnecessary loads.  He is serious about teaching us, purifying us and taking us step by step closer to Him.

The other day I attended a workshop organized by Out Of Darkness, a nonprofit organization that runs a 24/7 hotline to rescue women who are being trafficked.  One of the guest speakers talked about the “threshing floor season” in such a beautiful way that easily explained how God lovingly purifies us so we can be closer to Him. 

Threshing in the Bible times was done during harvest season, when it was time to remove the grain from the husk. The threshing floor was a circular flat area where mules or oxen pulling a special sled would pass over and over the sheaves. After this, the stalks and the grains were thrown into the air so the wind would blow the unwanted chaff and only the good kernels would remain at the threshing floor. 

This is a great way to describe the purifying process that we go through, which many times includes painful situations that help us get rid of the things we don’t need. 

The threshing floor is a place of crushing, sorting and at the same time of abundance and blessing.

“David replied, ‘I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord there, so that the Lord will stop the plague.’ ‘Take it my lord, and use it as you wish,’ Araunah said to David…But the king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on buying it, for I cannot present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.’” (2 Samuel 24:21-24) Don’t you love that answer?  Many times we want the blessing but we are not so sure about the sacrifice.  We don’t want to wait, change our attitude, face the past or give up things that we should.  We just want things to be better quick; a miracle that happens instantaneously. 

The threshing floor bought by David became later the place where king Solomon built the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.  So the place of humbling sacrifice became the place where the glory of God shone.  

The closer we want to be to God the more we need to let Him mold us, because there is too much selfishness in us and too many distractions that need to be taken away, separated and blown in the wind.

The promises of God are real and they are for each of us, and the perfect time always comes, and as we wait God refines us so we can be closer to Him and He can use us to help others.  “In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay.  The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use.  If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for his purpose.” (2 Timothy 2:20-21)  

One matters to God

Have you ever felt overwhelmed when facing big issues such as poverty, environmental degradation or human trafficking to name a few? Have you thought that any action you take is so small and insignificant, so why even bother?

I am sure you have heard the story of the boy who was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and kept throwing them back into the water.  A man saw him and asked him what he was doing and tried to make the boy realize that it wouldn’t matter because there were thousands of starfish on the beach in thousands of beaches around the world, but the boy refused to give up, picked up another one, threw it back into the ocean saying: “it mattered to that one”.

“As one person I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person” Paul Shane Spear

One matters to God, He is all about personal relationships; He cares about you!  About everything you do what you feel, what you fear, what you want to hide from the past and what you dream for the future. He knows you and wants to have a relationship with you because you matter to Him.  He wants to bless you because He loves you “I love all who love me.  Those who search for me will surely find me.  Unending riches, honor, wealth, and justice are mine to distribute.” (Proverbs 8:17) 

We read in the Bible how Jesus changed people’s lives; how He kept spreading God’s love one person at the time. He could have used a more “efficient” method, for example, once He arrived to a city, He could have gotten together all the people who were sick and He could have had massive healing gatherings, this way thousands of people would have been healed all at once!… but no, He chose one on one and those healings are still teaching us today. 

God loves us beyond understanding and He sees everything that happens to His children, to all His children! “You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their cries for deliverance from their harsh slave drivers.  Yes, I am aware of their suffering.  So I have come to rescue them from the Egyptians… Now go, for I am sending you.” (Exodus 3:7; 10)  It is so easy to say a quick prayer from our comfortable lives, and keep going, and that is fine sometimes, but other times God wants to send us, to literally take us places we would prefer not to go, because they are not pretty nor comfortable, but that is where some of His children are, waiting for someone to say to them… “You matter to God and to me”.

So we are clear that we, each of us, all of us are important to God. Now, let’s understand that God wants to use us to help one or many; all we have to do is give to Him what we have and see how He multiplies it beyond our comprehension.  Remember the story of Jesus feeding five thousand people? “Jesus soon saw a great crowd of people climbing the hill, looking for him.  Turning to Philip, he asked, ‘Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?’ He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.  Philip replied, ‘it would take a small fortune to feed them!’… ‘There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish.  But what good is that with this huge crowd?’ … Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed them out to the people.  Afterward he did the same with the fish.  And they all ate until they were full.”  (John 6:5-9; 11)  We just need to give God the little we have and wait for Him to do the rest.

We all are a family, and we need to take care of each other.  We need to spread God’s love one person at the time, giving God our talents and abilities and letting Him guide our steps to multiply the gifts He has given us for the good of His people.  “God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:11) God loves all of us the same, so once we realize the depth of His love for us, we need to be Jesus’ hands and feet and show the people He puts in our heart His love for them.

The battle is not yours

Have you ever been in a situation that is too big, too impossible or too difficult for you to even know where to start?  If so, then you can understand how King Jehoshaphat felt when messengers told him that the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites had declared war on him and were on their way.  He could have assembled his greatest war advisors to start making decisions right away, since the messengers told him that the enemy was close, but instead he refused to do anything until he heard from God.

We like to read the stories in the Bible, but sometimes we don’t see how they apply to our life, so let’s ask God to show us how we can learn from king Jehoshaphat’s response and put it into practice when we face attacks.

“Jehoshaphat was alarmed by this news and sought the Lord for guidance.  He also gave orders that everyone throughout Judah should observe a fast.  So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lord.”  (2 Chronicles 20:3-4)

The first thing we can see is that the king was afraid.  I think many times we feel bad because we are afraid when facing problems; we reason that because we are God’s children we should not feel fear, we put pressure on ourselves and quickly guilt starts building up. When threatened, we will feel fear; it is an emotion we experience. We can’t do anything about feeling fear, but we can control our reaction to fear and our actions even while feeling it.  As Joyce Meyer says “do it afraid!” 

We also notice that as soon as the king received the news he prayed to the Lord. He didn’t say a wimpy fearful prayer asking God to make everything ok, no!  He said: “O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven.  You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth.  You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you! … O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us.  We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.” (2 Chronicles 20:6; 12) what a powerful prayer!  And Jehoshaphat didn’t pray alone, he knew the power of praying together; immediately he gathered the whole nation to pray with him. “As all the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives and children, the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there.” (2 Chronicles 20:13-14)  When was the last time your family got together believing God for something big?  Praying together is powerful “For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20) 

God answered His children’s prayers “Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.  Tomorrow, march out against them… but you will not even need to fight.  Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory...Do not be afraid or discouraged.” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17)  Don’t you just love this verse?  God is saying this to you and me, right now in whatever situation we are facing.  He knows we are afraid, but He reassures us that He is in charge, but He still tells us to face our challenge. Problems can’t be ignored, we can’t run away from them, we face them knowing God is by our side. He asks us to take our position, whatever He says we need to do, we do it and then we wait… oh! That is the hardest part!  How can we wait in the middle of our problems?  How can we just wait for God to act when it seems that He is not doing anything!  So tempting to act and give God some ideas on what to do and when to do it, but not Jehoshaphat, he obeyed and he organized the people in their positions “the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor.” (2 Chronicles 20:21) This reminds me of the song “Praise Him in advance” by Marvin Sapp which says “praise will confuse the enemy” and how true it is, not only the enemy but also the people around us, what a testimony!  And that is exactly what happened “at the moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.”(2 Chronicles 20:22)

May our powerful God give us the strength and wisdom to wait, hold our positions and praise Him as He fights for us. “The Lord himself will fight for you.  You won’t have to lift a finger in your defense!” (Exodus 14:14)