荒漠甘泉∕8 月 28日
『他們必如鷹展翅上騰。』（賽四十章三十一節）
相傳有一個寓言，說鳥類最初被造的時候，是沒有翅膀的。神將翅膀造好了放在牠們面前，對牠們說；『來，戴起這些翅膀來。』 那時的鳥類也有豐美的羽毛和悅耳的歌喉；牠們能唱幽揚的樂歌，牠們的羽毛能在日光下放光，只是牠們不能翱翔空中。
神吩咐牠們戴起翅膀來，安在肩頭上。 起初，肩頭上的擔子似乎很重，背著也很費力，但是不一會，牠們將翅膀展開，覺察了利用翅膀的方法，於是就能高飛空中－啊，重擔變成了翅膀！
讀者，這是一個比喻。我們就是那些無翅的小鳥，我們的工作和職務是神替我們預備帶領我們向天的翅翼。我們也頂會望著我們面前的重擔畏縮；但是只要我們一挑起那擔子來，它們便會變成我們的翅膀；藉著它們我們便能飛向神去。
如果我們高高興興地用愛心負起一切重擔來，我告訢你，沒有一件重擔不能變成我們的福祉。神原命定我們的工作來做我們的幫助的；所以讀者阿，拒絕一個重擔，就是拒絕一個新的生機。－密勒（J/R.Miller） 凡是神親手繫在我們肩頭上的重擔，無論怎樣沉重，都是可喜愛的。－費勃爾(F.W.Faber）
原作∕Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
『耶和華……在那裡試驗他們。』（出十五章二十五節）
有一天，我到一家大規模的鋼廠試驗室去參觀。在我四周圍都是一間一間分開的小房間。鋼受試驗到一個限度，就用數碼標著優的等級。有的一絞就斷，有的可以拉得很長，有的可以壓得很緊；它們的扭力，張力，和壓力的大小，都有數碼標明在上面。廠主知道這一塊鋼受得住多少壓力。他知道一塊鋼如果用來造大船，造屋宇，或者造橋梁，能夠承擔多少重力。他知道，因為他的試驗室這樣告訴他。
神的孩子也常受此試驗。神不要我們像玻璃或者瓷器的花瓶一樣脆弱。祂要我們像堅韌的鋼一般，無論怎樣受絞受壓，都不會破碎。
祂不要我們作花棚裡面的花草，祂要我們作能被風雨擊打的橡樹；祂不要我們作會被疾風吹散的沙丘，祂要我們作抵抗狂風的花崗岩。要將我們作得這樣，祂必須帶我們到祂受苦的試驗室去。我們中間有很多人都有自己的經驗可以證明：受苦實在是神信心的試驗室。－馬克康該（J. H. McC.）
對別人講說信心很容易的事，但是神常將我們丟入坩堝裡去提煉我們，要把貴金與金分別出來。哦，如果顛簸我們生活的颶風，能使我們的主更加寶貴的話，我們的顛簸也是舒適的了。有基督同在的風雨，比無基督同在的平靜更好！－馬克特夫（Macduff）
若不受苦，神不能設法叫你的生命成熟。
"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 compartments. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures the 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 porcelain. He would have us like these toughened pieces of steel, able to bear twisting and crushing to the uttermost without collapse.
He wants us to be, not hothouse plants, but storm-beaten baks; not sand dunes driven with every gust of wind, but granite 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 crucibles to try our gold, and to separate it from the dross and alloy. Oh, happy are we if the hurricanes that ripple 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 ripen your life without suffering?
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