Adversity is a word we all like to avoid. When we are met with strong head winds, making it not only difficult to advance, but also to see clearly, we can get frustrated and even discouraged and disillusioned. Trials never seem to come at convenient times. They explode on the scene, unannounced, and unwelcome. They demand our attention, our energies, and our time. Our normal response is to either try to come up with a forced fix, or to avoid the situation all together. More than one avoidance has ended in expensive problems later on, and possibly even legal headaches.

It's obvious that we don’t like trials, but life seems to bring them on an all-too-often schedule. Most trials come and go, with life happening again as ‘normal’ soon after their completion. But, once in a while, a trial latches on and just won’t let up. Those kinds of trials tend to make or break us. I think it may be one of those kinds to which James refers in …

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Enduring temptation, which includes trials of every sort, is the theme here. The word, ‘endureth,’ literally means to ‘stay under.’ The thought is not running from the trial, but staying under it until it is completely over. Of course, there are many ways we can ‘stay under’ a trial. We can gripe and complain the entire time, causing extra stress and frustration to everyone around, or we can walk through the trial seeking God’s help, and allowing Him to walk the trial with you.

Being ‘tried’ or ‘tempted’ includes by their very definition hardships and pain. It hurts to have to undergo hard times. Financial hardships can really wear on you; often causing lack of sleep, and even health problems. Worry can lead to very serious problems both physical and emotional.

It is interesting that James includes a study on trials. At the time of his writing, his audience was the new church having recently been scattered across the land because of persecution in Jerusalem. Families that he had grown to love dearly had been forced to flee or face imprisonment or worse. Many of them found similar persecution in the lands to which they journeyed.

The phrase, ‘when he is tried,’ literally means, ‘when he made acceptable.’ It gives the idea of being fully developed under the trial. In other words, God was using these trials to shape His children into the mature believers it would take to carry on His work of spreading the Gospel. As they stayed under the pressure of the trials, they were being conformed into Christ’s image.

Let’s decide that we will ‘stay under’ whatever trials come our way, that we might also be conformed into the very image of Christ.