1 Chron 21:18 Therefore, the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
It might seem strange the Lord would direct David through the prophet Gad to erect an altar to the Lord in a very common place of labor. If you’ve ever been in a barn or a feedlot, the thought of placing a sacred altar in that location is startling.
Our religion and our religious practices have become so pristine and polished, and far removed from real-life. (Even moreso from blood, sweat and tears.) Our altars are places of beauty and magnificence, gold gilt, with polished marble and ivory and granite. Our thoughts are made to soar to the heavens by the wonder of our physical surroundings. And – even more important, we have to have air-conditioning…and not too cold or too hot.
Our worship has to be in songs we can relate to and appreciate. The sound has to be blended to suit our taste, and if it is too loud or not loud enough our worship is inhibited.
We like to think of our altars as being places where we can feel comfortable, and where we can likewise invite our friends to come and be comfortable along with us. The more close friends we have in our place of worship, the less inhibited we feel in our ability to worship God – as we think it less likely we may be judged by others – after all, they are our close friends.
If you think none of this is true – measure your heart by this standard: Have you been to visit a church where you felt totally uncomfortable and yet been able to worship God? I didn’t think so.
Yet we see God is not interested in our comfort.
God desires at some point, sooner or later, that we would submit ourselves to being threshed. To have the wheat separated from the chaff.
Our lives - even as Christians - have become mostly about chaff. Some say it is more difficult to be a devoted Christian in this day and age than at any other time in human history. We are bombarded by temptation constantly from all kinds of media sources that have never existed before, and we find ourselves driven to the point of distraction. Blind to God. Distant from God. Deaf to hear His voice.
This is why the altar, in God’s design, is to be a threshing floor – a place of earthy aroma, with the sense of hard labor, and harvest. There is nothing of comfort for the wheat upon the threshing floor, only of separation unto usefulness by the thresher – to be food for others. Have you been to His altar?
- Pastor Bill
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