Have you ever had a particularly hard week, where everything just feels unstable, uncertain, disconnected and frustrating and you’re thinking to yourself “God what happened?! Whaaaat is going on?!” And slowly, through Gods loving communication, you notice the same ‘theme’ coming up over and over in your daily life? 

This happened to me this week. The theme of ‘The Threshing Floor’ just so happened  to come up in different sermons and teachings I listened to this week, and then just to get it through my limited human perspective and understanding, I hopped in my car on the way to my next task for the day and the song “Threshing Floor” automatically came on full blast once my phone connected to the car.

I hadn’t even been listening to this song this week!

This repetition, is just one way God lovingly communicates to us! Highlighting His heart over our lives and in some cases, providing a gentle reminder of what we prayed for! My ‘spiritual amnesia’ lifted and I instantly knew that what I was walking through, and feeling lately was a God purposed ‘sifting’! 

Weeks earlier, on repeat, I had prayerfully been listening to the song, “Threshing Floor” by Housefires & Stephen McWhirter. I highly recommend meditating on the lyrics below with God! It had been a humble, fully surrendered, honest prayer in my time with Him for a few weeks, as the lyrics professed my most heartfelt continual desires for refinement and ‘sifting’ over my life.  

So many times, we so genuinely sing songs of prayers for refinement in our lives as we declare and ask God to “search our hearts”, “refine us with fire”, and “sift us to reveal anything thats not from Him”…. And then just a few short weeks or even days later… we’re surprised when everything feels like a sudden derailing in our lives.

In reality, God is honoring our purest hearts request for growth – the very thing we prayed for!

When we are in the middle of the ‘storm’ or the frustration, its so easy to become blinded to the greater purpose that God has.

Hindsight is fabulous, isn’t it? 😉

Sometimes He is allowing things to gently ‘sift’ to the surface, that will only come out during times of frustration, weakness, and ‘shaking’. Other times He allows deeper long held emotions and memories to come up so that they can be healed and not ‘stuffed’ down year after year. (This kind of healing with Him is different than a ‘hard week sifting’, and is one we’ll dive into deeper in the future).

His hearts desire is to see his beloved children walking in full freedom with Him. And He allows opportunities for this in our lives, but it is up to us to fully lean in and look up as we allow hard things to be healed – or just as in this case – softly ‘sifted’ to the surface and removed from our lives. 

So what is the Threshing Floor?

In the Bible, a threshing floor is a flat, hard surface where grain was separated from straw and husks. References to the threshing floor are found throughout scripture (see Matthew 3:12, Luke 3:17, Genesis 50:10, Hosea 13:3 and Jeremiah 51:33). 

Throughout these verses, the threshing floor is a representation of a place of separation and preparation for the harvest. The good (grain) is separated from the bad (the straw and husks).  The winnowing fork is used to throw the grain up into the air and allow the wind to sift away the lighter materials, the straw and husks, being left with the weightier, good grain that can be utilized.  God is not only sifting through the harvest as He prepares us for Jesus’ return, but He is also sifting through the hearts of those who love Him, to purify us more and more each day. Through each toss in the air, allowing whatever is not from Him to be sifted away.  

In Luke 3:16-17, John the Baptist is speaking of Jesus and of the many ways He is coming to baptize, and cleanse the harvest (those that believe in Him!)

“John answered them all by saying, I baptize you with water; but He Who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of Whose sandals I am not fit to unfasten. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.His winnowing shovel (fork) is in His hand to thoroughly clear and cleanse His [threshing] floor and to gather the wheat and store it in His granary, but the chaff He will burn with fire that cannot be extinguished.”

Luke 3:16-17

I pray that we would allow our hearts to be searched daily by God for anything that needs to be ‘sifted’ away. And may we not so easily forget that each toss in the air is producing a more purified and developed version of ourselves to allow the true love and purposes of God to shine through more and more!

“Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you. But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph [exultantly].”

1 Peter 4:12-13

“Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.”

James 1:2-4

Let’s Pray

Jesus we thank You that You love us just as you find us, but that You also love us enough to help us grow and experience full wholeness with You. We thank You for the ‘sifting’ in our own lives, and repent of the ways in which our small perspectives may limit us from seeing the full picture of love that You have for our ‘hard weeks’ in life. We pray that you would help us with our ‘spiritual amnesia’ 😉 and trusting that the sun WILL shine bright once again. We trust You, and ask You to ‘keep sifting us, until everything is on the threshing floor’. We love You so much and thank You for Your unending love for us!

Amen

“Threshing Floor” by Housefires & Stephen McWhirter