Waterboarding

1 Peter 1 has a lot to say, and is worth reading in it's entirety.  But there is a specific part that comes to mind tonight....verses 6-7:

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah is revealed. 

We just completed the celebration of Rosh Hashana, or Yom Teruah - the feast of trumpets.  It is exciting to think about all that will happen at the sound of the trumpets.  But in the meantime, we are here, and here is not always a fun place to be.

Al and I have a petty addiction - it's a show called "Heroes."  Since we were not home yesterday when it came on, we recorded it to watch tonight.  There is one particular part that stood out to me.  One character who has the power to create fire from their own hands was teaching another indestructible character a lesson about a form of torture called waterboarding.  Even though the character could not die by burning, the more she sweat and lost oxygen, the more she felt as though she were suffocating - similar to drowning - losing control and feeling trapped, panicked and helpless.

To be quite honest, Al and I have been through a little struggling lately with this and that.  We definitely feel as though we are being "refined by fire."  I always thought about going through "the fire" as an awesome test of what type of warriors we are.  But now, I see it is much more intense than that.  I can see how the trials we go through can bring us to the point of wanting to give up - they make us feel trapped, panicked and helpless.  It's like our oxygen is being taken away.  It is almost an opposite idea than that of the courageous warrior.

But scripture gives us a hope...there is a reason for this suffering.  And that reason is not necessarily to have our needs and wants provided miraculously (although, that many times is the case), but ultimately to glorify our LORD and Savior.  The more our trials seem to trap and control us, we remember the the end:

verses 8-9: 

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

This isn't the first time (nor, am I sure, will it be the last) that we will be bombarded with difficulties.  In fact, as I write these words, many of my dear friends are urgently dependent on prayer to heal a loved one, bring a baby into the world or save a dying marriage.  We are thankful to not be going through those kinds of "torture."  But ours is one that the LORD has allowed and we must endure for His Name's sake.

The prophets spoke of the grace to come through Yeshua (although it existed long before He became flesh), and the sufferings He would endure and the "glories that would follow."  The idea that "even the angels long to look into these things" is just refreshing to me.  That we should participate in suffering, to become more like Him and to experience glory - well, that is glory to me.

At this very moment, we do feel somewhat trapped and as if we are suffocating, but in the midst of it all, there is an overwhelming peace that assures our hearts that this moment is not in vain.  My hope is that we have learned or are learning our lesson(s).

We would appreciate your prayers - not that we would just "get what we want," but that the "peace that passes all understanding" would prevail and reign in our lives, our households and our communities of faith.  May we be indestructible in the midst of our refining.

verse 23:

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of G-D.