“For the Word of God is alive and active… Hebrews 4:12a
The author of the letter to the Hebrews implores its readers to not drift away from Christ, from His message, from their belief in Him as their Messiah, the final authority, and the only way to be saved.
Many of us, if not all of us, will at some point come to a trial that will cause a crisis of faith. A turning point. A time when the pressure will be almost intolerable and we will either press in to Him all the more, or we will look for a way out, and turn away from Him.
God’s Word clearly states that those who have been truly converted are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and I believe God will keep those believers in the faith through trials.
And those who completely turn away, who choose unbelief and never come back to faith are the ones who never had a belief in Christ that resulted in conversion.
But there is a third group, and those are the ones who have believed, who have been converted, but at that turning point choose to allow their hearts to be hardened and walk away, or step back to one degree or another, for a time.
I think any of us can find ourselves in that category if we’re not careful.
The author of Hebrews exhorts them to keep believing.
“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that runs away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:12-13
Life can get pretty hard. And we can become disillusioned when we think God shouldn’t have allowed something so intensely painful, or that He should have rescued us in a certain way, or in a certain amount of time.
Right now we’re all facing a trial together. Many are out of work, many are sick, and many have lost loved ones.
We can choose to be angry and walk away from God, or we can choose to take our pain and our trials to the One who sits on the throne, who’s always sat on the throne, and who will always sit on the throne. The One who’s also taken up residence inside our hearts, and can heal our hearts and bring us through the trials.
For that reason, God’s given us His word which is “alive and active…”
Spending time in God’s Word is not like reading just any other book.
It is “God-breathed…“
If we allow it, through His Word God will teach us, rebuke us, correct us, change us, encourage us, reveal to us, cleanse us, fill us with His peace and joy, and draw us closer to Him so that instead of drifting away when a trial comes, our faith will grow stronger than ever before.
The way out of trials, is to stay in. Walking away from God does nothing but cause more heartache and pain. Stay in the trial, stay in the faith, stay in God’s Word, and let Him bring you out, or through, His way, in His timing, shining with faith.
Did you know it takes 725,000 pounds per square inch of 
pressure to turn carbon into a diamond? That’s a lot of pressure. But when they come through the process, they are one of the purest, most precious and most beautiful items there is, and because of that, they’ve become symbols of love.
God allows what He hates to accomplish what He loves. Those trials full of pressure will purify our faith if we let them, if we seek Him and His heart-changing Word through them, if we allow Him to have His way in us. And when we come through it all, we will shine for eternity as treasures of God’s great and precious love.