When God gave me the names of Jehovah for the month of November, He also gave me the blogs for December - the Feasts. He gave them in this order: Of Weeks, Pentecost, Threshing Floor, and Easter. There are times when God moves that I understand and there are other movements that I don't. I didn't understand 2 of these as feasts - Threshing Floor and Easter. But Of Weeks and Pentecost, I had studied.
Feast of Threshing Floor is also known as Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Shelters. Jewish people will call this feast, Sukkot, a time of spiritual purification to reconcile with God.
Deuteronomy 16: 13- 15 (NIV) "13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete."
Before machinery was invented during biblical times, after the harvest was gathered, the grain and chaff were separated manually on the threshing floor. It was a hard yet smooth flat surface where the sheaves of the grain where spread upon it. Animals, mainly oxen and cattle would walk on it several times loosening the edible grain from the chaff - the husks - that surround it. Then the worker would use winnowing forks to throw the mixture in the air so the chaff could blow away leaving the grain. In my hindsight, I am reminded of this process from a movie based on the Book of Ruth. In the scene, Boaz and his workers were performing this harvest. I am also reminded of the preceding scriptures in Ruth 2:15-16 (NIV) "15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her.16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
Here is what I'm understanding with this Feast. You will glean what you work for. The Clark Sisters have a song where they sing - Is My Living In Vain? Nope. Not for a minute or even a second. What you've been working for, gleaning, has never been in vain. It's all been part of the journey. What you will feast on is the grain after the chaff has blown away. One thing I am sure of in this pandemic is that God has called upon His people to draw closer to Him. Not all have done so. Not all will do so. Some will be the chaff and blow away in the wind. Do not be surprised or dismayed if certain people are removed from your circle and day to day life. They are the chaff and cannot continue with you on this journey.
This feast is not to celebrate their departure. Its to commemorate the fact that you are still standing. You are still here. Through all heartache and heartbreak. Through all the ups and downs of the past couple of years. Through all trials, you have a testimony. This is the feast where you will eat what you've gleaned because you've done the work. But, have you done yours? Please don't think that going to church is your work. Neither is working in the church. The work has nothing to do with your physical ability. It has everything to do with your mindset. Are you open to receive that which God has said upon this earth? Are you willing to separate yourself from those that aren't to continue on this journey with you? What if those people were family and your closest friends? What if God said pack up and move across the world and showed you the blessings He had in store for you there? Would you be willing to do as He says when He says? Your work may be physical and mental. It may call for you to be more, do more, see more, hear more. It may call for you to take yourself off the back burner where you've been simmering for years and move to the front burner and be used as He sees fit. Would your courage allow you to do so? Are you ready for this feast?
Be A Blessing And Not Just Blessed
- Nakya