Day 2: The Threshing Floor

The Threshing Floor: The Place Where God Brings Clarity

Before Gideon laid out the fleece, he stood on a threshing floor. And before God gives direction, He often brings us to a place of separation, refining and truth.

In this episode of The Gideon Fleece, we explore the powerful symbolism of the threshing floor and why it plays such a significant role in understanding the Gideon Fleece model. Throughout Scripture, the threshing floor is more than a physical location. It is a place where God exposes what is hidden, separates what is valuable from what is not, and brings clarity where there has been confusion.

Together, we'll discover what it means to come to the threshing floor in our own lives and why God often deals with our motives, fears, assumptions and distractions before revealing the next step.

If you're seeking direction, wrestling with uncertainty, or waiting for God to make something clear, this study will help you understand the process He often uses to prepare us to hear His voice.

Scripture Focus: Judges 6

Key Question: What might God be trying to separate, reveal or refine in your life before He gives you the answer you're seeking?

Join us as we explore the place where confusion gives way to clarity and where God's truth rises above our own understanding.

Seek. Discern. Obey.

Thank you for joining me in the Word & Prayer Room. If this study has encouraged you, please follow the podcast and share it with someone who may be seeking God's direction. Remember, God is not distant or silent. He is able to make His will known to those who sincerely seek Him. Until next time, keep listening for His voice, keep trusting His word, and keep walking by faith. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

So, welcome back to the Gideon Fleece uh study, and um hopefully you've had time to look at the introduction where we looked at and read from Judges chapter six, verses thirty-six to forty, New International Version. If you haven't done so, please go back and listen to that so that this study really takes you on a journey. And in our last chapter, we were looking at setting the context. So we needed to know what was happening in the life of Israel at that time before we come to today's study, which is all about the threshing floor. Before we even go into the Gideon fleece and what it was all about and what Gideon asked God for for that certain answer, I think we need to set some context so we understand that there are lots of lessons to be learned when we study this scripture. So this is referenced in Judges chapter 6, verses 36 to 40. We read it before, and um we also talked about what was happening in the life of Israel. So, just to quickly recap, in Judges chapter 6 we see that Israel was living in fear, the Midianites kept invading their land, stealing their crops, and leaving them struggling to survive, really. And the people cried out for help. Remember, in the last chapter, we talked about the cyclical patterns of Israel falling out of fellowship and love with God, they would then experience oppression because God would uh give them over to the desires of their hearts so they become oppressed. The third part of that cycle was that they would cry out to God, and then fourth cycle, God would raise up a judge. So we were in a cycle when we pick up the story in Judges chapter 6 when God actually is raising up um one of the judges to deliver the children of Israel from bondage from the Midianites in the person of Gideon. So God chose a man named Gideon to deliver Israel. But it was interesting that Gideon felt unsure. So he didn't doubt that God could save Israel. So it's important to note that he must have heard of and maybe seen what God could do. He's heard the stories about how God delivered his ancestors from you know the Egyptian bondage and the dividing of the Red Sea. He would have seen all of the miracles that his ancestors would have told him about, his parents may have told him about how God provided manna in the desert, how God really provided for them supernaturally. So he didn't have any doubt that the God of Israel could save them, but he needed reassurance that God really meant to use him. So that's the difference. God, I know you can save Israel, but do you mean to save Israel through me? And we're gonna look at that in another scripture. Um so Gideon asked God for a clear and specific sign, which is the fleece, hence the name of this study, the Gideon Fleece Study. And um, a fleece is wool taken from sheep, it's really thick, it's soft, it's very absorbent. And Gideon placed a fleece on the ground outside on the threshing floor overnight. So before we even go into seeing what that placing it on the threshing floor was all about and what that Gideon test was, I want to focus this chapter on the threshing floor and why it really matters when we are looking for a clear and exact and unmistakable word from the Lord. So, as I said before, it's interesting that Gideon didn't just place the fleece anywhere, he placed it on a threshing floor, and that location is really important. So, let me just give you a quick description of what a threshing floor was. It was a flat open space, usually on high ground, where farmers processed harvested grain. So after they gathered the grain and the crop, they would crush or beat the grain to loosen it. And then what they would do, they would toss it up into the air. The wind would blow away the light, useless husks called chaff, while the heavier, valuable grain would fall back into the basket, and this process was called winnowing. I believe it was Jesus that said in St. Matthew chapter 13 and verse 29 to let the wheat and the tares grow together until the day of harvest. So not everything that the farmers harvested was of good use, and so it was so important for them that they would be able to separate the goodness of the grain from the bits that were not useful. So the threshing floor was a place of separation where what is useful is kept and what is not useful is removed, and it was also a place of exposure. You see, on the threshing floor, nothing is hidden there, everything is laid open so truth can be revealed. Why don't you just put your hand on your heart and say, Lord, lead me to my threshing floor? Because I want everything that is not in line with your will to be exposed. I want everything that I may not be aware of that is hindering my walk with you. Lord, I don't want anything to be hidden, so Lord, reveal it in the name of Jesus. The psalmist David declared in Psalm 139 and verse 23. Um, and I'm reading from the NIV, it says, Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. Verse 24 See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. So we see that the threshing floor, that location, is not just uh a place where we just do everything that uh we think is needed, but it's also a place where we become vulnerable before the Lord. Um, it's it's a powerful place where we prepare ourselves to be in the presence of the Lord, where separation between what is real and what is false occurs. And you know, if we want to get a word from the Lord, we want to make sure that we have nothing that can influence what we are hearing, what we are waiting to receive from the Lord. The threshing floor is about refining and processing. You know, if there's ever a time that we needed to be processes, there are some things within us that have been there because of childhood, that may have been there because of life experience. And sometimes we don't even realize that we are operating because of things that are in our lives that we don't even know about, but which drive us to act and behave in certain ways. So sometimes it's not that God isn't answering us, it's not that God is not responding to us, but we need to be threshed. There's some things that need to be dislodged, and that refining process is really needed. The threshing floor is also about clarity and decision. You know, sometimes we can say, Lord, I'll do what you want me to do, just let me know. And sometimes when we get the answer, we don't want that answer, so we try to manipulate it. But God has a way, I don't know about you, but I've had it in my life where He has been absolutely clear. There can be no mistake as to whether this is God speaking. So on that threshing floor, we get that clarity. We know that we know that we know this is the voice of the Lord, and then that helps us to make a decision. Uh, Moses said that I'm not gonna go if you're not gonna go. Uh, Moses wanted to know that God was gonna be with him if he was gonna make a decision, and surely today that is what we want. We want our decisions to be uh, thus saith the Lord. God has told me this, and because he's told me this, then I know I can take those steps. And the threshing floor is also where truth is revealed. God is gonna give us the truth. Um, my bishop Joel M. Thomas normally says, God can answer us in three ways. He can say yes, he can say no, and he can say wait. So we just want to make sure that whatever we are debating today, whatever steps we're thinking of taking, if we want to absolutely hear from the Lord, we've got to be in a position to receive that answer. And so this is where the threshing floor is really important, where we get ourselves into a place where what is real and what is false can be separated. That's number one. Number two, where we can be refined and process all of those historical bad behaviors, poor experiences that have infiltrated our lives up until this point, that that can be refined and processed out of us, that we can get absolute clarity from the Lord to inform that decision that we are seeking and where the truth of God can be revealed. Hallelujah! Where the truth of God can be revealed. And you see, this is what makes Gideon's choice of location really meaningful. He placed that fleece on the threshing floor, a place of vulnerability, a place where it signifies to God, I'm ready for you to do whatever you need to do so that I can hear from you. We've got to be in that position to want to hear what God is staying, is saying, and what God will reveal. And I tell you why this was important, especially for Gideon. You know, at that point in his life, Gideon was unsure, he was fearful, and he was overwhelmed by the calling that God had placed on him. And how many times have we said, Lord, I've responded to your call, yes, I'll go. And then when God gives us that call, um, we're looking at the enormity of the call, and and we we we just say, no, we can't do that. Um, but God was calling Gideon to be the next savior of Israel at a time that they were experiencing oppression at a very fierce hand of the Medianites. Um, so he was unsure of the calling that God had placed on him. And Gideon needed clarity. You know, we need to seek more of God. You know, in this day and age when there's so much happening around us, we need to be absolutely sure. We need to have that desire to want to know, is this you, Lord, or is this me? So he needed clarity, he needed certainty, and he needed to separate his fear from God's instruction. And I tell you something, this is really important because when something seems overwhelming to us, if we know that God has sent us there, we can have that peace and reassurance that God will never send us into something that will destroy us. He will never send us into something that we can't manage. If he sends us on a mission, he will always make the provision. That is the absolute truth of God's word. He will never send us and ask us to do something that he cannot back us up with. So it's important for us to know that when God is calling us to something, especially if it looks bigger than what we can manage, that we get that clarity. And if we know that we know that we know, amen, then we have nothing to fear because we can lean on his everlasting arms. So here we see Gideon, he stood in a place that represented a place where things are sorted. This is the threshing floor. He stood in a place where things are tested and he stood in a place where things are made clear. Say after me, Lord, help me to stand in that place where you can sort my mind. Lord, help me to stand in a place, Lord, where you can test the motives of my heart. Lord, help me to stand in a place where I can hear your voice clearly and where my desires are aligned with yours. So the fleece was the sign that he asked for, but the threshing floor was the environment of clarity where that sign was given. So let me say that again. The fleece symbolized is what he used to get the sign that he was asking for, but the threshing floor was that environment where clarity, where refining, where truth was revealed took place. And so, in many ways, Gideon was not just testing God's instruction, he himself was being refined. His doubts were being refined, his fears were being allayed, and his questions were being threshed so that only truth would remain. My prayer today is that we will have our threshing floor and be willing for anything that is not of God, anything that gets in the way of God's calling on our life will be threshed, will be separated, will be refined so that when God is finished with us, all that remains is of value to Him. Well, I hope that this study has been good to you. And in terms of an application, why don't you just think of an area or that decision that you are pondering and just ask God to just give you that ability to get into your threshing floor because as you begin to build that Gideon Fleece test, you want to know that you are operating in a place where God has separated all of the unconscious bias, all of the blind spots, all of those inner motives that do not align with God. We want to take those away. And so when we get to that place on that threshing floor, and God begins to separate what is not of him and leave only what he wants to be left in our lives, that we know that when we speak to him, when we call on him, when we ask him for a sign, we are asking from a place of spiritual purity and certainty in God. Well, God bless you. I hope that this study has been useful to you. It certainly has been to me, and I'm thinking about my threshing floor. Um and and why don't you write down what God is revealing to you? What is He separating? What is He bringing into your thoughts that you need to lay down on that threshing floor? May God bless you.