Threshing wheat at the winepress: Gideon as a case study

I’ve come to realise that so often we are comfortable threshing wheat at the winepress. We’ve mastered the art of threshing our cereals in a place where grapes are turned into wine. We’ve given up on ourselves and are just happy with doing the wrong thing in the wrong place.

Yes, we are doing the wrong thing in the wrong place because we are not meant to be threshing wheat in the first place, talk less of doing so in a winepress. We were meant to be making wine from grapes but because there are no more grapes in the vineyards, we’re boxed into harvesting wheat in hiding and running to the winepress to thresh them for fear of the enemies.

And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. Judges 6:11

This is the concluding part of the two-part series on the Threshing Floor. Kindly read the first part – Understanding the Meaning and Importance of the Threshing Floor

Now, for Gideon to have felt a little secure in the winepress than going to the threshing floor, and for the enemies to have left Gideon to thresh his little wheat at the winepress meant a few things that I think we should analyse.

There were no grapes in the land anymore

It means that the vineyards were plundered by the Midianites, so there weren’t any grapes left. Else the winepress wouldn’t be empty for Gideon to flail his wheat. The Bible records that the land of Israel was so plundered that Israel was greatly impoverished. The Midianites would invade the land each harvesting season as a swamp of locusts, and together with the Amalekites and other tribes from the East, they’d devastate the entire place.

So, for Gideon to be in the winepress to thresh wheat is proof of the absence of any surviving vineyards in the land. The enemies didn’t even bother to go to the winepress to check if there was anyone making wine because they were sure no one would be there given the absence of grapes.

Outside the Creator’s Purpose

Satan has shortchanged the destinies of several people and they are now comfortable doing something that they are not called to do. And he loves this because he is defeating God’s purpose for your creation. The Bible says that God created all things for His pleasure. To receive pleasure from his creatures, each creature has to be fulfilling its assigned purpose.

The bible tells us in Genesis 1:31, that God saw everything that He has made and they were good, and He asked them to increase and multiply and replenish the earth. Why God asked them to go ahead to reproduce is because there was a purpose for each and they were going to fulfil that purpose. God isn’t a purposeless Being who creates unuseful things.

Jesus said that for this purpose he came into the world – to destroy the works of the devil. And we see all the Apostles understanding the purpose of their calling. So, everything created has a purpose, including non-living things. When you realise and walk in the purpose of your creation, you give God pleasure.

Imagine a father who has always prayed and wished that the son becomes successful in every area of his life. That father will be happy to hear that the son is doing great in his studies. But it doesn’t stop there. When he leaves school and he’s doing great in his chosen profession, his father will be really happy. When he gets married and he’s having a happy home, his father will be very excited each time he talks to and about his son. But if that son leaves the way of God and begins to walk in the way of sin, his father’s happiness will soon turn to sorrow.

Inasmuch as the son is very successful in other areas of life, following the way of sin is a deviation from the right path, and the father knows that that way will ultimately lead to death. Even the other accomplishments of his son are not secured outside of Christ. The risk of family disintegration when a man goes into sin is high. The risk of career flops, in the long run, is very high. So, the father will no longer derive pleasure from the son because he has left the right path.

In the same way, when we work outside God’s ordained paths, we give God displeasure despite the physical and material success we have achieved. God isn’t satisfied with how much we have acquired, for those are perishable items; He is satisfied with seeing us walk in His ordained purpose.

Lack of Access to the Instruments for your Destiny

Threshing wheat in the winepress also meant that Gideon couldn’t access the devices that he needed to thresh his wheat properly. As earlier stated, a threshing floor is a place that is suitable for threshing and winnowing the grains. The winepress isn’t equipped for that function. The winepress is equipped with the necessary tools for making wine from grapes, just as the threshing floor is equipped with the tools for threshing cereals. Taking the wheat to the winepress deprives you of all the tools you need for your job while giving you tools that are incompatible with what you want to do.

Minimal or No Results

An effect of lacking tools is that you won’t be able to accomplish your task. Or you’ll accomplish your task in a longer time. The Bible says that if a cutlass is sharp, you don’t need much strength to fall a tree with it. But when the implement is blunt, you must exert much strength to bring down a tree. Now, imagine when you don’t even have a blunt cutlass but you’re given a stick as the instrument to fall a tree. Although a stick is a wonderful instrument, it’s not useful when felling a tree.

Frustration and reduced speed

Ultimately this leads to frustration and you’ll complain yourself out of the job. Gideon was already doubtful of all the mighty acts that God displayed in Egypt and in the wilderness. He was already beginning to think that they were mere fables and moonlight tales because he lacked the necessary instruments for doing his job.

When you work out of God’s purpose, you lose and lack supplies, for all things will work together for good to those who are called according to His divine purpose.

And even if out of determination and rugged discipline you make use of what you have, you’ll spend a lot of time doing what could have been done in less time. You lose speed, you lose strength and you waste the time appointed for that purpose.

Satan isn’t threatened when you are out of Purpose

As long as you are walking out of God’s purpose, you pose little or no threat to the enemy. The enemy may not even look in your direction while you are there at the winepress, but you will still be afraid that he will find you to kill you. You will be afraid on your own.

When your destiny has been altered, your claws become blunt. When you take an expert in long-distance shooting and permanently assign him to be a cook, he can be effective in preparing delicious meals but you have lost an asset in your squad. This is what the enemy attempts to do each time – relegate us to other functions that aren’t our original assignment. That way, we become harmless to him and his camp.

Lack of Trust in God and Poor self-esteem

Also, the inner sensation that you aren’t where you are meant to be will slowly destroy your self-esteem. You begin to doubt God, doubt your abilities, doubt your calling, destroy your relationships and become so afraid to even do anything meaningful with your life.

The captivity of the Israelites under Midian made Gideon lose his sense of self-worth. He couldn’t believe that he will be able to save Israel despite an angel appearing to Him. He was so much in doubt that he asked God for proof… twice. And even when God answered him in the affirmative, it still required him to visit the camp of the enemies at night and eavesdrop on their discussions to believe that he was able to be used by God for the job.

Conclusion

Until you get angry with what has been, what has been will continue to run and ruin your life. Until you rebel, you’ll remain under the Midianites and be threshing corn in the winepress. The winepress is not a place for threshing corn. The winepress is for the grapes, while grains are meant to be threshed on the threshing floor.

But the devil has made you a captive and you’ve become comfortable doing things in the wrong place and getting minimal or no results. Your full potential is limited because you don’t have access to the instruments you need for proper harvest.

But it’s time to rebel. The devils have stolen enough. We must regain our freedom Tonight!

Gideon wasn’t comfortable any longer and desired to have a repeat of the freedom that took place in Egypt. God used him to defeat the Midianites in such a way that the destruction is referred to as the day of Midian (Isaiah 9:4; 10:26; Psalms 83:9)

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