When you put a raw egg into the fire, it becomes hard. If you throw wax into a fire, it melts. And if you throw paper into fire, it burns and disintegrates.
Fire causes transformation, even though each one is different.
This reality is an analogy to the hard times one experiences during his life. Difficult situations bring about change in people. We can take advantage of these opportunities to grow.
Often, when one is going through a crisis, be it small or large, the methods that worked for him in the past don't function now, and he must learn to reconsider his lifestyle and readjust. Hardships are growth opportunities.
Scriptural and Rabbinic Insights
It states (35:17), לה ותאמר בלדתה בהקשותה ויהי בן לך גם זה כי תיראי אל המילדת, the Rimzei d'Chachmasa (written by a student of the Chidushei Harim zt'l, Reb Shmuel Leib Zack zt'l) explains, ויהי בהקשותה, when a person is having a hard time in avodas Hashem, we tell him, תירא אל, don’t worry. בן לך גם זה כי, You are climbing to higher levels. בן means child, alluding to growth and success.
The Gemara (Menachos 29:) says, "Reb Akiva will teach many halachos וקוץ קוץ כל על, from each corner of the [letters of the] sefer Torah." The Or LaShamayim (Lech Lecha השני 'ה ויאמר ה"ד) says that קוץ can be translated as a thorn, pain, hardships. From every וקוץ קוץ, difficulty in life, Reb Akiva attained higher levels.
The Gemara (Kiddushin 81.) says that Rav Amram had a great test and overcame the yetzer hara. Rav Amram said to the yetzer hara, מינך עדיפנא ואנא בישרא ואנא נורא דאת חזי, "See! You are fire, and I am flesh, and I'm greater than you." We can explain that Rav Amram was saying עדיפא אנא, "I reached my levels, מינך, because of you." Because the challenges you put in my way helped me reach my high levels.
We daven נסיון לידי תביאני אל, that we shouldn't be tested, because we aren't confident that we will pass the tests. However, when one finds himself in a situation of a test (and we are constantly facing tests), he must recognize that this is an excellent opportunity for growth. It is an opportunity to develop oneself in ways he wouldn't have accomplished without it.
