And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzza put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.  And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

2 Samuel 6:6‭-‬7 KJV

This attempt was doomed as we have discovered concerning the lack of preparation on David’s part to bring the Ark. 

There came a testing at the Threshing floor. It is here we need to see its significance. The reason being that the Threshing floor appears in David’s life in very significant places.

The Threshing floor is a testing ground. It is a place where all this thrown up and in the scrutiny of He that thrashed the grains. Here in this instance God is threshing the attempt of bringing the Ark. And the oxen stumble. What struck me was the reaction of Uzzah. He touched the Ark instead of Steadying the oxen. God was displeased and Uzzah died. David seeing this was stopped. 

I believe Uzzah received this response from God due to presumption being that he thought that God’s Ark of Covenant needed Steadying. Stumbling in faith and stumbling in ministry must be due to our lack of preparation and reverence for the Lord. Our intentions and prayers must match our attitudes in the stumbling. What God wants to demonstrate that we do not need to steady His Work. He alone brings balance and a steady walk. 

And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.  And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.  And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.  And Araunah said, Wherefore is my Lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord , that the plague may be stayed from the people.

2 Samuel 24:18‭-‬21 KJV

Here we see David at the Threshing floor. This time God had brought him here because David had angered the Lord and judgment was imminent over Jerusalem. The Angel was seen with the sword of judgment ready to fall on the city. Here the Lord relented and this Threshing floor became a place of atonement and forgiveness. This place David bought and it became the site for the Temple. 

What I believe is that every time any Church and any minister desires to bring His Presence God must make us walk to the Threshing Floor. Here we either succeed or we fail. Twice David failed and twice God turned the situation round. 

We sometimes see divisions; heresies; scandals break out in places where we once saw God move powerfully. Yet we are astonished how these things happen. We wonder why. The reason is God is threshing our motives because the Glory is His alone. 

Jesus says to Peter that Satan asked God to bring Peter to the Threshing Floor to sift him. How did this take place?

Peter was confronted by the betrayal and capture of Jesus; denies Him three times as he had given into fear. Jesus had prayed that his faith would not fail. 

We see very clearly in the Word that the Threshing Floor is a setback for a setup to a turning point. David’s error in turn became and altar of worship. The Altar of Worship became the Temple. Peter’s denial became Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost, full of revelation; revolution ; resolution. God turns our stumbling into Steadying as we humbly stop our attempts of bringing His Presence and we seek with humility His turning point. 

This is what I feel about the Word as it is our teaching and instruction when life becomes our threshing floor. We may stumble but we shall not fall if in the stumbling we recognise that we are the most unprepared for the manifestation of the Shekinah Glory. 

It took David to understand what happened when Uzzah died that God was not happy with David’s methods. He took 3 months to come to a full realisation of what God already spoke in His Word what was the correct way to bring His Glory! 

As we seek Him in our stumbling which may come in several forms; maybe we are overloading ourselves; pushing projects which God did not inspire; living a way which we no longer look to be led but we are driven by our desires and ambitions, God will reveal the way to bring His Glory into our lives. 

God will then steady our stumbling and bring us to Zion to build God’s altar and project for His Temple!

Shalom!