August 28

"There he proved them" (Exod. 15:25).

I stood once in the test room of a great steel mill. All around me were little partitions and compartments¹. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures that showed its breaking point. Some pieces had been twisted until they broke, and the strength of torsion was marked on them. Some had been stretched to the breaking point and their tensile strength indicated. Some had been compressed to the crushing point, and also marked. The master of the steel mill knew just what these pieces of steel would stand under strain. He knew just what they would bear if placed in the great ship, building, or bridge. He knew this because his testing room revealed it.

It is often so with God's children. God does not want us to be like vases of glass or porcelain². He would have us like these toughened pieces of steel, able to bear twisting and crushing to the uttermost without collapse³.

He wants us to be, not hothouse plants, but storm-beaten oaks; not sand dunes⁴ driven with every gust⁵ of wind, but granite⁶ rocks withstanding the fiercest storms. To make us such He must needs bring us into His testing room of suffering.

Many of us need no other argument than our own experiences to prove that suffering is indeed God's testing room of faith.--J.H.McC

It is very easy for us to speak and theorize about faith, but God often casts us into crucibles⁷ to try our gold, and to separate it from the dross⁸ and alloy⁹. Oh, happy are we if the hurricanes that ripple¹⁰ life's unquiet sea have the effect of making Jesus more precious. Better the storm with Christ than smooth waters without Him.—Macduff

What if God could not manage to ripen¹¹ your life without suffering?

八月二十八日

「耶和华……在那里试验他们。」（出十五25）

有一天，我到一家大规模的钢厂试验室去参观。在我四围都是一间一间分开的小房间。钢受试验到一个限度，就用数码标着优劣的等级。有的一绞就断，有的可以拉得很长，有的可以压得很紧；它们的扭力，紧张力，和压力大小，都有数码标明在上面。厂主知道这一块钢受得住多少压力。他知道一块钢如果用来造大船、造屋宇，或者造桥梁，能够承担多少重力。他知道，因为他的试验室这样告诉他。

神的孩子也常如此受试验。神不要我们像玻璃或者瓷器的花瓶一样脆弱。祂要我们像坚韧的钢一般，无论怎样受绞受压，都不会破碎。

祂不要我们作花棚里面的花草，祂要我们作能被风雨击打的橡树；祂不要我们作会被疾风吹散的沙丘，祂要我们作抵抗狂风的花岗岩。要将我们做得这样，祂必须带我们到祂受苦的试验室去。我们中间有许多人都有自己的经验可以证明：受苦实在是神信心的试验室。－－马克康该

对别人讲说信心是很容易的事；但是，神常常将我们丢入坩埚里去提炼我们，要把贵金与劣金分别出来。哦！如果顚簸我们生活的飓风，能使我们的主更加宝贵的话，我们的顚簸也是舒适的了。有基督同在的风雨，比无基督同在的平静更好！－－马克特夫

若不受苦，神不能设法叫你的生命成熟。

1 compartments   

n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层

参考例句：

• Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 porcelain   

n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的

参考例句：

• These porcelain plates have rather original designs on them.这些瓷盘的花纹很别致。
• The porcelain vase is enveloped in cotton.瓷花瓶用棉花裹着。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 dunes   

沙丘( dune的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

5 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。

6 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

7 crucibles   

n.坩埚，严酷的考验（ crucible的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Gooch crucibles or similar filters are used for such measurements. 在这样的测定中，采用Gooch坩埚或类似的过滤器。 来自辞典例句
• Have you really measured the world by scrutinies, or through alembics and crucibles? 那么，这是否因为您是从蒸馏器和坩埚上来研究人类的呢？ 来自互联网

8 dross   

n.渣滓；无用之物

参考例句：

• Caroline felt the value of the true ore,and knew the deception of the flashy dross.卡罗琳辨别出了真金的价值，知道那种炫耀的铁渣只有迷惑人的外表。
• The best players go off to the big clubs,leaving us the dross.最好的队员都投奔大俱乐部去了，就只给我们剩下些不中用的人。

9 alloy   

n.合金，(金属的)成色

参考例句：

• The company produces titanium alloy.该公司生产钛合金。
• Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.青铜是铜和锡的合金。

10 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

11 ripen   

vt.使成熟；vi.成熟

参考例句：

• I'm waiting for the apples to ripen.我正在等待苹果成熟。
• You can ripen the tomatoes on a sunny windowsill.把西红柿放在有阳光的窗台上可以让它们成熟。