We are quickly approaching a new year - 2022 is right around the corner. For many of us, the last two years (2020/2021) have felt like a threshing floor experience. Surely God has been at work in the midst of it refining and purging some things out of His disciples.
A threshing floor according to scripture can represent several things. For some it is viewed as a symbol of judgement. (Psalm 1:4-5) Others see it as an altar for repentance, sacrifice, and worship. (2 Samuel 24:17-25) Finally, it is representative of a place of separation and revelation. (Joel 2:24-25) It is in this place that the harvest is trampled on; the grain separated from the straw and husks by beating it manually or stomping heavily on it with the feet. Usually a winnowing fork was used to throw the mixture into the air so that the wind could blow away the chaff - leaving only the good grain on the floor.
Perhaps during the last two years it has felt as if some things were blown away - removed from your life. Idols fell off shelves, crushed and broken into the worthless pieces that they have always been. Our ideologies of our families, careers, and our relationship with God has all been called into question. Surviving the tumultuous election and aftermath involved an introspection of what God was doing with his body of believers. We were shook up with the division and various opinions and thoughts about taking a "vaccine." The shut down and reopening of all that we held as important caused a tsunami of feelings and emotions to rise within us. The multitude of deaths from a tiny virus produced a vibration of sorrow that continues to echo around the globe. Many were shaken, tossed in the air, trampled on and called to this lonely threshing floor to experience a separation and be a receptacle of revelation.
For each the experience was slightly different. Some came into a new level of faith and prayer. Others received a greater understanding of praise and worship. Many found answers and peace by studying God's Word. Yes, both weeping and joy were found on the threshing floor. Choices were made during this time - we could decline God's offer, reject the experience and dismiss what God was doing on the earth. Or we could continue to hope and undergo the transformative nature of sanctification and holiness allowing God to take us higher into His realms of glory.
I don't know how long this threshing floor experience will continue. Perhaps it is soon coming to an end. Our faith has been tested for its genuineness by fire over these last two years, not to harm us, but to be proven by the fire that it is worth more than perishable gold. Imagine coming out of this experience having on a garment of pure gold. We, His disciples, will be given praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ returns. Let us continue to endure with hope, faith, and love looking into the mirror of the New Year.
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