EthniClay
"Expressions of God's Grace"
Modelling Clay Figurines
Artwork & Photography by Grace Wiebe - © Grace Wiebe, EthniClay™, 2006
THE THRESHING FLOOR - see Figurine, Note Card
"His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Luke 3:17 (NIV)
Earlier this year at one point I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying to me, "You are on the threshing floor". At various places in Scripture where threshing floors are talked about, they are generally symbolic of some of God's spiritual processing in our lives.
The threshing floor is where God uses His 'winnowing fork', the'threshing sledge' to loosen the 'chaff' from our hearts (separating truth from deception, dividing soul and spirit, loosening idols from our lives that we didn't even realize are/were there - these can even be good things that are distracting us from Him).
We tend to avoid 'the threshing floor' because of the pain involved in having Him reveal things about us to our hearts which we would rather not see, and being asked if we are willing to let Him exchange our deception with Himself - the Truth, and replace the 'idols' we've found some satisfaction in with Himself - our true Source of Fulfillment.
It is helpful to remember that the PURPOSE of the threshing process is not to damage the wheat but to produce pure wheat without chaff so it can be made into ONE LOAF - one with THE BREAD OF LIFE - along with the rest of the wheat that is a part of the Loaf - His Body. We then can become, with Him, food for the world…
Each of us is a like different type of grain and must be threshed in a different way - some softer, some harder, etc., - so as not to ruin the grain but to remove the chaff so only the pure grain is left. So the way God does this in our lives is loving and appropriate and He takes care of us in the process - even though from our perspective we often are in intense spiritual/emotional pain during the 'threshing'.
The process of being on the threshing floor is similar to the WINEPRESS process He also brings us through. The purpose of the winepress is also to remove the impurities and make it pure and awesome wine which also symbolizes His Life.
We have seen HIM as the BREAD & the WINE in communion, but do we also recognize that HE IS FORMING US INTO HIS BREAD & WINE in order to FEED THE WORLD WITH HIMSELF? I believe that that is why we must discern the Body and understand His heart of unity, purity and love, etc. for the Body when we share communion. He desires health in the Body and without discerning His Body as we should, we become 'weak and sick' (see 1 Cor.)
So let us keep our hearts focused on His PURPOSES for the processing and
remember that He is taking loving care in HOW He processes us - tailor-made
for us!
From: The Threshing Floor - helpful article and beautiful artwork by Glenda Wilson
Some Other Helpful Resources about this topic:
Jerusalem used to be named Jebus or "threshing floor."
http://www.greaterthings.com/Essays/threshingfloor.htm
"...The symbolism of simplicity, of bareness, of "decision," separating the wheat from the chaff. The bareness of the broken heart and contrite spirit which is brought before God and answered with the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost..."
http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/thresh.htm
"...Now, threshing is useful in loosening the connection between the
good corn and the husk..."
http://www.gospelassemblyfree.com/facts/threshingfloor.htm
