James jumps right into the question that so many people have – hard times. Why do we have hard times? James says we should actually rejoice in our hard times – because that is when we truly grow. Hard times are not from God; He is the Father of Lights – and only good things come from Him. Bad things, and temptations, come from our own evil desires (don’t blame God), and then we sin. We are caught in this cycle, and we are hurt from our choices and the choices of others. God is not the one to blame; God is the solution – He is the One working in the middle of our mess, not fixing all of our problems but working to fix us in the midst of the mess. Things change when we stop blaming Him and letting Him work and change and save us.
http://nlt.scripturetext.com/james/1.htm
