Recently we had the 2021 Summer Olympics. It was amazing to watch this year. Especially after a year of being locked down in our homes.
Many of the athletes were talented and brought not only medals home but they also experienced the success of setting new records. It was exciting and encouraging to watch them and yet they also were held to almost impossible standards. There is a documentary on some of these athletes who experienced such pressures and it revealed that they became depressed. They had these incredible gifts and yet they became prisoners, trapped in despair and depression of meeting expectations.
While I was thinking of these young athletes, it took me to another superstar of sorts. A man who later would be known as Jesus Christ, who held an impossible responsibility of becoming prince of peace, king of kings or even a savior. Yet he did it with such resolve and strength, never giving into the pressures of satan who mocked him and tempted him. He dealt with the pressures with the strength of God and did not rely on his human nature. Most of us would never measure up to this kind of pressure. We give into our human thinking that usually involves rules and regulations.
Luke 6:1-11 – The sabbath was given to man for a purpose, but sometimes mankind twists the purpose to meet their own needs. In this passage, it talks about the Pharisees who had an important job in preserving the law. They took it seriously and yet they began to add a few more rules and regulations. They then used their rules and regulations to challenge the disciples and ask “why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
Technically, the disciples were allowed to glean from the edge of the fields – in fact the farmers were instructed to not harvest the edges so that those who were hungry could use the grain for their food. The disciples on this particular Sabbath day, picked from the heads of grain, rub them between their hands and ate the kernels.
How many of you are farmers? I know very little about harvesting wheat but in my attempt to be a farmer I have had the pleasure of harvesting vegetables and fruit. With wheat, however, there is an outer covering, the husk, that must be removed to get to the kernel of grain.
Threshing is the process of removing the edible kernel from the straw it was attached to. There is even more to tell you on the process, however, the issue with threshing and the sabbath is that it took hard work. It was not lawful to work on the sabbath.
How ironic that the Son of Man, who is Lord of the Sabbath, responds to the Pharisees with “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Why did Jesus bring it up at that exact moment? The Pharisees were busy trying to hold Jesus to an impossible standard. When needs are required to be met, for example the human need to rest, then there is sense in the keeping of the sabbath, a day of rest. But the Pharisees added rules and regulations to further define “rest”. It is a strong human trait to want to put controls and impossible standards in place in order to be able to measure and keep to a definition of rest.
Now, as we get to this idea of threshing, I realized how closely my life is to this process. There are days where I feel like I am being discarded to the wind, or threshed at the threshing floor. It is in these days, that I know that God is preparing me, making me aware that the battle is momentary and the truth is about to be revealed. It is inappropriate to give credit to satan when this is happening, because it is God’s process to bring the harvest. So when I am feeling low, discouraged and unwanted, I am comforted in knowing that soon he is going to reveal a kernel of truth.
In my research on threshing, it spoke of a flail being used by our earliest forefathers. This would actually separate the grain from the husk, an outer covering of protection for the kernel, at the threshing floor. It was an art form similar to what you would see with fly fishing, only this would consist of sticks and chain to break the husk away from the kernel. Isn’t it ironic that when we are being tossed back and forth with thoughts and anxiety – the end result is truth. A small kernel of truth exists in the midst of being threshed or in the midst of experiencing flailing.
Take time today to see the threshing as opportunity to be disciplined athletes, who like many, undergo rigorous training and build strong disciplines… able to stand against all the threshing. When you get through a specific discipline, the truth is refreshing. We are ready and armed for the next battle and our hearts are full of compassion. Be kind to one another in all areas of a disciplined life.
