The Threshing Floor: A Sacred Space of Harvest and Transformation

As I step into 2025, exploring the emotion of lack and how it shows up in our lives, God led me to the threshing floor. You see, our family lineage once owned significant wealth and farms in the Western Cape. They had so much money, they didn't know what to do with it. Today, we own nothing. Trapped in a cycle of scarcity and lack that has persisted for generations. I find myself asking: why? As I discover the answers, I want to share them - because this is not just about my family's wealth. It's about all the Christians out there scraping by every month. Nowhere in the Bible is this the life God intended for His people.

It started with Jacob (Israel). When Joseph reunited with his brothers, he sent a message to his father, Israel, urging him to bring the entire family to live in the land of Goshen. It was a strategic move - Canaan was in the grip of a severe famine. Sometimes you have to leave the place of lack, to step into a place of abundance, even if, that place of abundance turns out to be the same place you once struggled in.

Anyway, as Israel grew old, he made his children promise to bury him in Canaan when he died. They honored his wishes and at that point, everything was still cool with the Pharaoh. He fully supported Joseph, blessed their journey. It was a grand procession back to Canaan - their first one.

Until they came to the threshing floor of Atad, where they paused for seven days of mourning before continuing the journey.

This brings us to the threshing floor. A sacred space of harvest and transformation.

The Threshing Floor: A Place of Divine Encounter, Not Suffering

For many, the concept of the threshing floor has been misunderstood—framed as a place of suffering, hardship, and guilt. But when we look at Scripture, the threshing floor is not a place where God drags people to be broken down; it is a place where people willingly seek Him for revelation, transformation, and divine encounters.

A Sacred Meeting Place with God

In biblical times, the threshing floor was a vital agricultural site where grain was separated from the chaff. Spiritually, it became a place where people encountered God in powerful ways. We see this in Ruth, who positioned herself at Boaz’s feet at the threshing floor, leading to redemption (Ruth 3) and eventually her marriage into the lineage of Jesus Christ through David. We see it in David, who built an altar there after God directed him to purchase the threshing floor of Araunah to stop the plague (2 Samuel 24:18-25). The temple itself—the place of worship and God’s presence—was later built on that very site (2 Chronicles 3:1).

These moments highlight the threshing floor as a place of divine connection, worship, and new beginnings, not a place of despair.

Why the Misconception?

Some may associate suffering with the threshing floor due to Gideon, who was found winnowing wheat in a winepress (Judges 6:11). But Gideon wasn’t suffering at the threshing floor—he wasn’t even at one! He was hiding in a winepress, trying to process grain in secret because of the Midianite oppression. His story is about fear, doubt, and God calling him to step into his identity, not about threshing as a painful process.

Stepping Into Transformation

The threshing floor is a place where God meets us, separates what is unnecessary, and prepares us for greater things—but it is never meant to be a place of guilt or endless suffering. Instead, it’s where we present ourselves willingly before God, seeking His presence and embracing the new season He is leading us into.

It’s not about being crushed. It’s about being refined and positioned for purpose. It's about getting for the new things God wants to do in our lives.