In First Chronicles 13, we read about the Ark of the Covenant. This was a large, ornate box where God's presence was housed back in those days before His spirit came to dwell in believers. The Ark of the Covenant had been gone from Jerusalem for a long time, and King David had a desire to bring it back. He loved the presence of God. He had his men build a special cart pulled by oxen to carry it because it was too holy to be touched by human hands. Very carefully, they used poles to place the Ark onto this cart. The men surrounded the cart and headed toward their destiny. Everything was going great until the oxen hit a bump in the road and stumbled. The ark started to fall, and one of the men instinctively reached out to steady it. When he touched it, he instantly fell dead. David was so upset that he wouldn't go any further. He gave up on his mission and let the Ark of the Covenant go to a house close by. The Scripture says the bump in the road occurred at a threshing floor. David saw it as a tremendous loss, but God was directing his steps. He was going to use that setback. At the threshing floor, just as wheat is separated from chaff, God was going to use that situation to refine David.
Sometimes, we're going along in life and everything is great, but then we hit a bump in the road—we lose a loved one, a relationship doesn't work out, the business goes down. We don't understand what happened. But just like with David, those bumps happen at a threshing floor. When you come out, you're not going to be the same. You're going to be refined with less chaff and more wheat. If you look back over your life, the times when you really grew, when you came up higher and developed more confidence, wasn't in the good times when everything was going your way; it was the times when you hit a bump in the road. You couldn't see it in the moment, but you were at a threshing floor. God used that to refine you, and you came out better.
The threshing floor is not only a place of separation, it's place of preparation. If David would have taken the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem the first time, before the bump in the road, he wouldn't have had a place to put it. A lot of people could have been hurt. Chapter 15 says, "He went and prepared a place for the Ark." When you hit a bump in the road, God is not only separating what's holding you back, He's preparing you for what's in your future.
For three months, David was upset and weeping, thinking he would never accomplish his assignment. One day he looked out and saw the house where the Ark of the Covenant had been staying. Those people were so blessed, so prosperous, so full of God's favor. Something rose up in him; a new fire, a new passion. He said, "God, I've changed my mind. I'm going to get back in the game and do what You called me to do."
Maybe you've hit a bump in the road and it's knocked the wind out of you. Like David, you don't think you can accomplish your dreams. That threshing floor is not defeating you, it's preparing you. You may have lost something, but you need to get ready. You're about to gain something a whole lot better. God is getting you prepared for something amazing. Get your fire back, get your passion back. "A good man falls seven times and the Lord raises him up." You may have fallen, but it's time to get back up. You're prepared; you're qualified; you're refined, and what God started, He's going to complete in you!