4-1-20
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4the one comforting us in all our affliction for us to be able to comfort those in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ abound toward us, so also through Christ our comfort abounds. 6But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, working in endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, knowing that as you are sharers of the sufferings, so also of the comfort. 2. Cor. 1.3-7
This time of going through the coronavirus pandemic is a time of discomfort, inconvenience, affliction and suffering. For most of us, it is mostly discomfort and inconvenience. For some it is the affliction and suffering of being out of work and a paycheck or of being sick or even of losing loved ones. In such a time it is helpful to remember that our God is the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. The word mercy has to do with pity. God has pity on us in our difficulties as he sees what our sin has brought into his creation. We can take heart that he has made provision for that and that one day there will be no more sin and its resultant suffering.
We can also take comfort in the fact that he is the God of all comfort, that it matters to God about us (1 Pt. 5.6). As we suffer we can take note that as we receive comfort from God, he is enabling us to comfort others who may not have the same awareness of God that we have. As our Lord Jesus endured the suffering of living in a sinful world and bearing our sins on the cross as he died for us, but thereby gained salvation for all who will trust him, so as we receive this comfort from him in our sufferings we can pass this comfort on to others. All things do indeed work for good when we trust in God in our troubles as he uses them to mature us in him and prepare us for his heavenly kingdom.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-2-20
2When evildoers came upon me to consume my flesh…. 14Wait for I AM. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for I AM. (Ps. 27.2, 14, ASV update)
An explanation: I AM is the English translation of the Hebrew name for God revealed in Ex. 3.15.
The coronavirus is literally a coming upon us of something evil to consume our flesh. What do we do in such a time? It is obvious that we take reasonable precautions. If we do not, we are tempting God (Dt. 6.16, Mt. 4.7). But it is much more important that we put our trust in God. We have no ultimate control over this virus, or over our own circumstances. Even the most cautious may contract the virus. Anyone could die of it. Are we thus to live in worry and fear and dread? No – we are to realize that our times are in God’s hand (Ps. 31.15). He controls our situation and the time of our death, if indeed we are to die before the end of this age. The virus cannot take my life. Only God can, and when he does I will be with him forever! If he uses the virus to do so, so be it. He will use something! Praise him. Trust in him. Wait for him and for his time in every aspect of life. Be strong – in the Lord. Let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for I AM, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-3-20
Job is the Bible’s great example of suffering and of enduring under it. In a moment he lost his oxen, sheep, and camels, and the servants caring for them, and far worse, his ten children. What did he do? “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell down to the ground and worshiped, and he said, ‘Naked I came out of my mother’s womb and naked I will return there. I AM gave and I AM has taken away. Blessed be the name of I AM.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” Later he said, “But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I will come forth as gold.” In the end he said, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 1.20-22, 23.10, 42.5-6, ASV update)
Job’s response to suffering was worship. God is worthy of worship no matter what. Job knew that he was being tried by God as gold is purified in intense heat and that he would come forth from his trial as pure gold. Compare this with 1 Pt. 1.6-7. At the last he knew that his relationship with God had consisted mostly of knowing about God, but then he knew God personally. That
is what God is doing in the trial we are currently going through. He wants to purify us. He wants us to know him. How does that come about? We worship him in our trials.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-4-20
I AM bless you, and keep you. I AM make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. I AM lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. (Num. 6.24-26, ASV update)
This is the well-known Aaronic or priestly prayer that God gave to Moses to pass on to Aaron and the priests, which they were to pronounce over the people of Israel, the people of God. Then in v. 27 God says that when they do, he will bless Israel. As Christians we believe that we are also people of God. In 1 Pt. 2.9-10 we read, “But you are ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession,’ that you may proclaim the excellencies of the one having called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, ‘those once not a people, but now people of God; those not having received mercy, but now having received mercy.’” Not only are we people of God, we are also a royal priesthood. Every Christian is a priest. We are all qualified to pronounce God’s blessing on his people. As such, in this time of crisis, I pray for you, all of you, and ask that you pray for all of God’s people, including me, “I AM bless you, and keep you. I AM make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. I AM lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Amen. And pray for those who do not know the Lord and his peace that they will find him in this time.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-5-20
For it was fitting for him, because of whom are all things and through whom are all things, having brought many sons to glory, to mature the originator of their salvation through sufferings. (Heb. 2.10) He, though being a Son, learned obedience from the things he suffered. (Heb. 5.8)
The Lord Jesus was God in the flesh during his days on earth, yet he had to be matured through suffering. He was sinless, but he had to learn obedience through suffering. How could God in the flesh and a sinless man need to be matured and to learn obedience? I would say that it is because he chose to become a human being and live as we do, and we have to be matured and to learn obedience through suffering. If God in the flesh had to be matured and to learn obedience through suffering, how much more do we? We all tend, I think, to try to wriggle out of our trials or to ask God the get us out of them. His answer is that he got us into the trial for a
reason. He is trying to mature us and to teach us obedience so that we will be prepared for his kingdom. There are rewards beyond salvation, and those rewards can be lost. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you have eternal life and will never lose it, but you can forfeit rewards that you might have gained. See, for example, Rev. 3.11, written to the model church of Philadelphia.
We are living in a time of trial, all the way from minor inconvenience to losing income, being sick, or losing loved ones and facing death ourselves. In this time, realize that God is trying to mature us and teach us obedience, just as he did his Son, so that as he will reign eternally, so may we reign with him (Rom. 8.17, 2 Tim. 2.12).
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-6-20
For the momentary light burden of our affliction is working for us an eternal weight of glory from hyperbole to hyperbole, we not looking at the things being seen, but the things not being seen. For the things being seen are temporary, but the things not being seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4.17-18)
It is human nature to have our eyes on the things we can see, and right now we can see a crisis that threatens life and financial security. It is easy to get wrapped up in that. But God is much more concerned with what is unseen, the spiritual world and the coming new age. He does want us to have a good life now, but there will be hardships in this world. We all suffer losses and grief because of this present evil age (Gal. 1.4) which has an end, and our lives here are temporary. God is concerned to prepare us for his millennial kingdom and eternity. One will last a thousand years and the other forever! While what we are dealing with now seems to be a very heavy burden, it is working for us who are the Lord’s and are trusting in him an eternal weight of glory to which this momentary light affliction has no comparison. That eternal weight of glory goes from hyperbole to hyperbole.
Do you know what hyperbole is? It is the same word in both Greek and English. It is often used in poetry. It is a gross exaggeration designed to make a point or emphasize something. We often use hyperbole in our everyday speech: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. No I can’t! But I am trying to convey how hungry I am, or think I am. God is telling us that the eternal weight of glory awaiting us is a gross exaggeration of the hardships we go through now. Take comfort in knowing what awaits us, and in knowing that it will never end, as the difficulties of this age will.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-7-20
But my God will fill every need of yours according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4.19)
We tend to think of this verse as dealing with our material needs, food, clothing, shelter, and so forth. That is certainly relevant at the present time with so many people being unable to work and earn a living. Many have no job at all at present and many have had their investments and 401K’s hit hard with the stock markets tumbling. God has promised his people that he will meet our needs and we can rely on him. Not our wants, but our needs!
But we need so much more than material things. We are mental and emotional creatures. We need sound minds that can think clearly in such a crisis, but minds racked by fear and worry do not always think clearly. We need emotions at peace. We need assurance that our needs will be met, material and psychological.
The Lord is our assurance, our peace, our provider. We see this in Gen. 22 in the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. As they were approaching the place of sacrifice with the wood, the fire, and the knife, Isaac asked his father where the lamb was for the offering. Abraham told him that the Lord would provide the lamb (v. 8). After the Lord stopped Abraham from slaughtering his own son, Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. He took the ram and offered it for the sacrifice. Then he named the place “I AM Will Provide” (vs. 13-14). That statement has been made into a song, “Jehovah Jireh, my provider, his grace is sufficient for me.” “Jehovah Jireh” means “I AM, my Provider.”
So we have an example from Gen. 22 and the word straight from God from Phil. 4.19: “But my God will fill every need of yours according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Trust in him. We keep coming back to trust. Trust in him.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-8-20
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in the exercising of faith in order for you to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15.13)
Our God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the God of hope, and not just of the wishful thinking of the world, but of sure hope. Heb. 11.1 says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Rom. 15.13 says that if we exercise faith in God, he will fill us with all joy and peace, and that will result in our abounding in hope, sure hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has a wonderful illustration in his book Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Cure in which he explains that faith is not like a thermostat, which works automatically. You set it and it does its job on cue. Faith is not automatic. It must be exercised, and that is why I have translated “the exercising of faith” in our verse above. It could be accurately translated “believing,” as it usually is, but faith is not just believing something. It is trust in Someone and in what that Someone says (see Rom. 10.17). Some tell us that if you want something from God, just believe it and you will get it. No, you get what God says you will get, not what you want, though they may sometimes be the same. Exercising faith is trusting in what God says, not in what you hope in yourself.
And what does God say? He says if that you will exercise faith, deliberately put your faith in him and what he says, he will fill you with all joy and peace in order that you may abound in hope, sure hope, and that by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are living in a scary time. Many are hoping that things will get better, but they have no assurance and are fearful. Exercise faith in the God of hope. Trust in him. He will give sure hope, and joy and peace along with it. Praise him!
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-9-20
“Therefore, look, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak to her heart. And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of trouble for a door of hope, and she will respond there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it will be in that day,” says I AM, “that you will call me, ‘My husband,’ and will no more call me, ‘My Baal.’” (Hos. 2.14-16)
The context of this story is the rebellion of Israel against God with idolatry and injustice and his judgment of the nation in the eight century B.C. The nation was destroyed by Assyria and most of the people sent into exile. It is not my purpose here to go into details about this event, but to pluck one phrase from these verses. God always has and always will love his people and wants even those who have rebelled against him to return to him. So he says in these verses that he
“will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak to her heart.” That is, he will try to bring her back to himself.
The phrase I want to pluck is “the valley of trouble for a door of hope.” We have all known trouble and when we do we want to escape from it. But God wants us to escape, not from it, but in it, until it is his time for us to leave it behind. The Israelites of the eighth century B.C. experienced the greatest of trouble, the killing of many people, exile, and the destruction of the nation. Those who did survive, God wanted to call back to himself. He used this great trouble to cause them to turn back to him. We do not know, but we may hope that some at least did. God sometimes uses trouble when he does not get our attention by his goodness to us.
We are living in a time of trouble. People are sick. People are afraid they will get sick. People are dying. People are afraid they will die. People are losing their income and savings. We do not know how long this will last. I am certainly no prophet, as Hosea was,
but I think I can fairly say that God wants to get the attention of our nation, and of the world, and of us, in this time of trouble. If those who have never given their hearts to God and become his and those who have trusted Christ, but are not living in faith and obedience to him, will turn to him in this valley of trouble, they will find that it can be a door of hope. Even if you have walked with the Lord, but have allowed this trouble to shake your faith, realize that this valley of trouble can be your door of hope, a door to a deeper and closer relationship with the Lord, if you will turn to him.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-10-20
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I observe your word…. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes. (Ps. 119.67, 71)
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Pt. 3.18)
Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you may fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith works endurance. But let endurance have a perfect working that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (Ja. 1.2-4)
Most of us, I am afraid, consider it all sorrow when we fall into trials, but James, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says to consider it all joy. Why? Because just as the testing of our endurance through jogging makes us more able to endure, to run a little faster and a little farther, so the testing of our faith gives us greater spiritual endurance. Life is full of trials, minor, major, and in between.
We must learn to endure them with joy so that we will not fall by the wayside. We choose to consider it joy when we have trials because we know that it is making us spiritually stronger.
James goes a step further. He says to let endurance have a perfect working so that we may reach full spiritual maturity and be complete, lacking in nothing. This word “complete” in Greek is very interesting. It is made up of two words, holos and kleros. Holos means whole or full or all. Kleros means lot or allotment. In the Old Testament, it can refer to the lot that each Israelite family was entitled to in the Promised Land. That lot was their inheritance. Spiritually it refers to the blessings and rewards that we can begin to know now through faithful service to the Lord and will know fully in the coming kingdom. It means our whole lot, our full inheritance, all that the Lord wants for us. But – rewards can be lost. We gain the full inheritance by enduring in trial and thus growing in the Lord. When we consider the trials all joy instead of complaining to God about them because we know that he is using them to insure that we gain our full inheritance, that works endurance in us. If we let that endurance have a perfect working in us it will produce maturity and completeness in us, insuring our full inheritance.
We are living in a time of trial now. The trial varies. Some, the sick and dying and those facing economic ruin, are suffering greatly. Most of us less so. Even in the face of the greatest suffering, let us trust in God fully and consider the trial to be joy, knowing the ultimate outcome to be an eternity enjoying our inheritance with the Lord Jesus forever. See also Rom. 8.17.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-11-20
Be humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in time, having cast all your care on him, for it matters to him about you. 1 Pt. 5.6-7)
Peter tells us to cast all our care on the Lord because it matters to him about us. It matters to him. When one of us suffers, God does not say, “Oh well, I’ve got a billion more to look after.” No, it matters to him. We are in a time of care now and it matters to him.
He will take care of us no matter what, but if we take certain actions before the care comes we will be in a better position to deal with the trouble. Mt. 23.12 tells us, “Now whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” If we exalt ourselves God will humble us, but if we voluntarily allow him to humble us, he will exalt us, as Peter says, “Be humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you,” and that in his time. That is one requirement, accepting what God does to humble us. By the way, we are told three
times in the Bible that God sets himself against the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Prov. 3.34, Ja. 4.6, 1 Pt. 5.5). Pride is spiritually deadly. Humility is the opposite.
The second requirement is “having cast all your care on him.” That is, we don’t wait until the care comes. We cast all our care on him ahead of time. We live in an attitude of having cast our care on God. Tenses are important in the Scriptures. The English version that I use says, “… casting all your anxiety on Him…,” but the Greek does not say “casting.” It says “having cast.” If we will live in that attitude of trust in God no matter what, that does not mean that we will have no cares. They will come, but we will be better able to turn to the Lord immediately and not go through a protracted time of anxiety.
And why can you “have cast” all your care on him? Because it matters to him about you. He loves you. He will see you through and use the care for your good.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-12-20
Since then the children have shared in blood and flesh, he himself also in the same way partook of them, that through death he might render powerless the one having the power of death, that is, the devil, and set free those who in fear of death through all their life were subject to slavery. (Heb. 2.14-15)
Hallelujah! The Lord Jesus has risen from the dead and is alive today! He is our hope!
In this day of fear and anxiety, let us take note of the fact that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus assures us that we have hope of victory for this life and even over death if we trust in him. The writer of Hebrews says that this is half of his twofold purpose in coming to this earth. (The other half is saving us from our sins.) He became human, partook of blood and flesh, or flesh and blood as we would say, so that through death he might free us from the power of death, and thus the fear of death. Many who do not know the Lord live in fear of death because they do not know what will happen to them after death. We have no need to be afraid, though we probably are at times because of human weakness, but we can choose to put our faith in the Lord Jesus and his victory over the devil and death. Death for the Lord’s people is a doorway to Heaven!
The day of the Lord’s crucifixion was a day of terrible suffering and death for him, but it was also a day of victory for him. He came to earth to do his Father’s will (Heb. 10.7), and that was that he die for our sins. He was obedient unto death and that was a great victory. It took much
more power to stay on the cross and die than to come down from it and live (see Mt. 26.53). But that terrible three days ended in the greatest of victories with an empty tomb. Hope in the Lord!
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-13-20
Let us hold fast the confession of the hope without wavering, for faithful is the one having promised, and let us consider one another for sharpening of love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves, as the practice of some is, but encouraging one another, and so much the more as you see the day coming near. (Heb. 10.23-25)
The book of Hebrews was likely written to Jewish Christians who were undergoing persecution, and having been shaken by persecution, were considering turning back from the Lord Jesus to Judaism. The author’s word to these people is as stated in our verses above. Hold fast the confession. It is our only hope. God is faithful and will see us through whatever we have to go through for him, even martyrdom. Instead of turning back, let us sharpen love and good works in one another. We cannot assemble physically at present, but we can assemble in spirit by staying in touch and encouraging each other.
We are not living in a day of persecution and are not facing martyrdom at present, but we are living through a frightful pandemic that has already claimed thousands of lives and wreaked economic havoc. It is not a time to waver in our confession of the Lord, but to stand fast and to help one another. That Greek word translated “encouraging” is very instructive. It can mean encourage, comfort, exhort, help, advocate, urge. It fits about any need. In times of trouble some of us need to be comforted, some encouraged, some exhorted, some urged. And this word is applied to the Holy Spirit. He is the Helper, Comforter, Encourager, Exhorter.
In this time, realize that God is faithful, that we have the Spirit of God as our help and comfort and encouragement and exhortation, and that we can hold fast our confession by relying on him. “And so much the more as you see the day coming near.” That day is the coming of the Lord from Heaven to receive his people and establish his kingdom. Hold fast. Help one another. Rely on each other and on the Lord.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-14-20
And the house, when it was being built, was built of stone made ready at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was being built. (1 Kings 6.7) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but are fellow citizens with the saints and are the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Eph. 2.19-22) … and you yourselves as living stones are being built a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (I Pt. 2.5)
One of my pet peeves is hearing someone calling a building the house of God. God does not dwell in houses made with hands (Acts 7.48). He dwells in his people. The church is not a building. It is God’s people.
The verse from 1 Kings above has to do with the building of the temple in the Old Testament by Solomon. The stones were not shaped for the temple at the temple site, but at the quarry. There was to be no sound of hammer or axe or any tool of iron at the temple site. That temple was considered to be the house of God, the place where he dwelt among his people. The New Testament passages show us that the actual house of God is not a physical building, but a spiritual reality, his people, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells.
Those physical stones were dug out, then shaped by being chiseled. It was noisy. If those stones had been alive they would have felt pain. There was rubble laying around. None of this was suitable for the presence of God, so it was done at the quarry. The verse from Ephesians says that we are being fitted together and built together. 1 Peter tells us that we are living stones. As such, we must be shaped so as to fit into God’s house, not by chisels and hammers and so forth, but by the dealings of God with us through our trials. We are living stones. We do feel the pain. Sometimes it is noisy and there is rubble. That work is being done here in the quarry that is the world. One day we will be transferred to God’s eternal dwelling place and will be a glorious house for him to dwell in eternally.
In this time of trial that we are going through as individuals, families, nations, God is working to make his own into living stones that are properly shaped and acceptable to him for his home. The noise of the shaping will be here, but will not be there. In that place there will be rest and peace. As we face these troubles today, let us be aware of what God is doing. He wants us to be fit for his house. Praise him!
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-15-20
But in all these things we are super conquerors through the one having loved us. For I have been persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor authorities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8.37-39)
In such a time as this we can be made very aware of our weakness and even helplessness. We are faced by an enemy we cannot see or hear, and it can be a deadly enemy. What are we to do? Certainly we must take all the precautions we can as we are being instructed by medical people, but obviously that goes only so far. As Christians we should realize that our lives are in the hands of God and that nothing can touch us outside his will. We cannot be sure of victory over the virus by natural means, but we can be super conquerors through the one having loved us, and still loving us. That super conquest may not mean that we avoid sickness or even death, but it means that we can remain faithful and obedient to the Lord no matter what. That is victory for a Christion.
The foundation for that victory is the assurance that God loves us and that nothing can separate us from his love. Not death or life or angels or authorities or things present or things to come or powers or height or depth or any other created thing. If we die we go into his presence. If we remain here we walk with him. The ultimate assurance of that love is the Lord Jesus Christ. He proved God’s love for us by coming to this earth that is full of sin and its consequences, as well as many blessings, and giving his life for our sins that we may know God and live in his presence, though unseen, even in this life. As we deal with the current situation, let us keep in mind the love of God for us and the truth that nothing can separate us from it. That gives the faith that makes us super conquerors in him.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-16-20
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice. (Phil. 4.4) For to you it was given on behalf of Christ not only to have faith in him, but also to suffer on his behalf…. (Phil. 1.29)
We are often told that Philippians is the letter of joy. That is certainly true, but it is much more. Words of joy, such as joy and rejoice, are used about fourteen times by my count, but words of suffering about nineteen times. Paul speaks of his imprisonment, people who try to make trouble for him, his facing death, his doing without things needed, sorrows, and so forth. The
more accurate description of Philippians as the epistle of joy is to say that it is the epistle of triumphant joy, joy out of sorrow and suffering.
Why would Paul tell us to rejoice always, and especially in trial? First of all because we have the Lord with us in the trial, and he has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13.5). Then because we know that God is using the trial to mature us in him and to prepare us for his kingdom. Gold in the Scriptures is sometimes symbolic of God himself. Because he lives in us we have gold in us, but that gold is not pure because it is mixed with us. He is using our trials to put our flesh to death, thus refining the gold and making us fit for his presence.
One of the best little books I have ever read is Don’t Waste Your Sorrows by Paul Billheimer. He details how the Lord uses our sorrows for our good and encourages us to cooperate with him. I recommend it highly.
Be triumphant in trial by rejoicing in the Lord always.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-17-20
And you shall remember all the way which I AM your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. (Dt. 8.2)
One of the reasons God lets us go through trials is that he wants to reveal what is in our hearts. It is easy for Christians to trust God and obey him in good times, but none of us are perfect and all of us have impurities in our hearts. He wants to reveal those to us so that we can repent and seek his forgiveness and his purifying of our hearts. I was born in a Christian home, have been active in church and Christian work virtually all my life. I thought I was a pretty good person. But God has put me through trials that showed that I have the same heart problems as everyone else. I thought I was a person of faith, but then I would complain when something happened that I did not like. I would question God – Why? Why me? His answer? Do you trust me or not?
I thought I was obedient, but would disobey under stress. He showed me what was in my heart – insisting that God serve me rather than me serving him. He showed me what was in my heart. It was not always a pretty picture.
We are going through a time of trial at present. One of God’s purposes in allowing this is to reveal to us what is in our hearts and to purify them. How are we doing?
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-18-20
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the occasion of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Therefore there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day. (2 Tim. 4.6-8)
Paul was at the end of his life. A man who had suffered much for the Lord was facing death. The ultimate suffering – not just death, but death by execution. Tradition has it that Paul was beheaded. His description of what was taking place came from his Jewish background, the pouring out of a drink offering to the Lord. He did not see his death as the end, but as an offering to God, his final offering. And what was his response? “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.” His death was not failure, but victory, the ultimate victory of his Christian life, just as the Lord’s death on the cross was victory over the devil who did everything he could to get him to sin, and thus die a failure. Paul knew that he had a reward coming, a crown of righteousness. I do not believe that crown was some material treasure that Paul craved so that he could boast about what a great Christian he had been. That crown was God’s approval of him: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Mt. 25.21, 23). Paul had written, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether being at home or being away, to be well pleasing to him” (2 Cor. 5.9). Paul’s aim was not to escape death or get a crown on his head. It was to be pleasing to the Lord.
As we face the trial that we are currently experiencing, whether it be the minor inconvenience of having to “stay at home” or something much more difficult – loss of income, sickness, death – what is our aim? Is it to be pleasing to the Lord by trusting him in this situation? Is it to get out of the trial or to fight the good fight, finish the race, keep the faith?
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-19-20
… whom God raised up, having loosed the birth pains of death, since it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2.24)
This verse comes from Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost when he gave explanation to what had taken place with the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He says that the
resurrection was a loosing of the birth pains of death. I am indebted to my dear brother Ray Kangers for pointing out the word “birth pains.” I had always taken it as just “pains.” My English version says “agony.” But the Greek word means “birth pains” and there is a great lesson in that. The pains of death were not just the pains of death. They were birth pains. In the death of a sinless man something new was being born – resurrection. Life no longer subject to death. Life that he can and does give to all who trust in him as Savior. Life that is eternal. That death of an innocent man gave birth to a whole new spiritual possibility – final victory over death for all who put their faith in him. And so much more – eternity with him who loves us so.
We are going through a difficult time for our nation, and the world, and for each one of us who suffers in any way from this pandemic. Most of us experience minor suffering. I do not consider myself to be suffering at all. I am retired and stay at home all day anyway, which I love. The only problem is that I cannot meet with brothers and sisters around the Lord. But many are suffering greatly. Some do suffer the pains of death, whether their own or that of loved ones. As we face such a time, let us remember that our pains can be birth pains. The Lord is trying to birth something new in us as we trust in him in our suffering and sorrow. And let us rejoice in the eternal life that came from one man’s birth pains of death.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-20-20
Not that I speak with regard to need, for I learned to be content in the circumstances I am in. I also know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to do without. I have strength for all things in the one empowering me. (Phil. 4.11-13)
We are living in circumstances in which it is easy not to be content. We are anything but! Heb. 13.5 says that we should be “content with the things being present.” Paul says that he has leaned to be content in his circumstances, whatever they might be. In all likelihood he was in prison when he wrote the epistle to the Philippians. How many of us would be content in prison? In hunger? In doing without? I am sure I would do a lot of fretting and complaining. But Paul says that he has learned the secret. What is the secret and how did he learn it? I suppose the secret is complete surrender to the Lord and his will and trust in him. He learned it through long experience (see 2 Cor. 4.8-12, 11.23-28, Acts 20.24). Paul was not living for himself, but for the Lord. He was like a soldier in battle. He would suffer anything, anything, to accomplish his mission.
In this time of trial the Lord is trying, among other things, to teach us to be content with whatever circumstances he has us in. He has us in them for a reason. He is trying to achieve something in us. We prosperous Americans tend to complain at the least little inconvenience. Let us make an effort to resist that complaining spirit and learn to be content with whatever the Lord wills for us.
I am not preaching to anyone. I am the worst offender. Let us pray for one another that God may make us into what he wants us to be, including being content just with him. He truly is all we need.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-21-20
For thus says I AM, “After seventy years have been completed for Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says I AM, “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. And you will call on me and you will come and pray to me and I will hear you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29.11-13)
The nation of Judah had been judged by God for their sinfulness by exile to Babylon. Jerusalem and its temple were in ruins. All hope seemed to be lost. But God spoke through his prophet Jeremiah, who had prophesied the judgment. In this prophecy he tells the people there is a time limit to their suffering and that God has a future and a hope for them, a future and a hope of peace. That time limit was seventy years and it turned out to be just that way. Israel has yet to see its ultimate peace which will come only with the return of the Lord, but it will come.
Meanwhile there are lessons in this passage for us. We are in a time of difficulty that could be judgment from God, though I am no prophet to declare that. We certainly deserve it as a nation and a world, with all the rejection of God, immorality, abortion, and so forth. Whether this is a time of God’s judgment or not, we can believe that it will have its seventy years, its end, and let’s pray that it will not be a literal seventy years! But for his people God has “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Then the Lord goes on to say through Jeremiah, “And you will call on me and you will come and pray to me and I will hear you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” We need to be calling on the Lord and praying, as I am sure you are, and we need to search for him with all our hearts. Even though we may know the Lord well there is still more of him to gain, infinitely more. Do any of us truly have our whole hearts in seeking the Lord, or are we just seeking relief from this trouble
we are in? Let’s not pray just for that relief, but let’s seek the Lord himself with all our hearts. If we do we will find him.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-22-20
… making mention in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened…. (Eph. 1.16-18)
We are living in a time in which many may feel that they are groping in the dark, wondering what on earth is going on. Will I get sick? Will I live or die? If I live will I have enough money to live on. Will I lose a loved one? Paul was a great one in prayer. He was praying for his readers in the verses above, but I believe it is safe to say that he was praying for us, too. After all, we are also his readers. Paul’s prayer was not that we would be able to answer all the questions I have just listed, and many more. There is much that we do not know and cannot figure out and will not know in this life. But Paul’s prayer was that we would have a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him, of God, that we would have some understanding in our finite hearts and minds of the infinite God. We will never know all there is to know about God, even in eternity, but we know enough to make it through this life. We know that above all God is love and grace. He has good plans for us, as mentioned in yesterday’s devotion, plans to give us a future and a hope. He is omniscient. He knows all about us, our strengths and our weaknesses, our good and our bad, our hopes and our dreams, our hurts and our joys, all of it. He intends to use all of it for his glory and our good. And he is almighty. He can do it! Let us join in Paul’s prayer for each other and for ourselves that we might have this Spirit, this Holy Spirit, of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him, so that we will be able to see him clearly with the eyes of our hearts in this dark world. He will not lead us astray, but he will lead us to himself.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-23-20
And having called them to himself Jesus said to them, “You know that those seeming to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them, but it is not so with you. But whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mk. 10.42-45)
Those seeming to rule: they don’t really. Only God rules. Lord it over them: they may have a worldly title of “lord,” but there is only one true Lord. We do not control our own lives. I have often wondered why I was born in the USA and not in some poor country where I would have had no chance at life. Being born in this country is a stewardship. We are obligated to use our privileged position to serve God by being servants and even slaves to others. (I don’t mean slaves in the historic sense in this world. This is a spiritual matter. See Rom. 6.16-18 – we are all slaves to something.) Even the Lord Jesus did not come to rule and exercise lordship. He came not to serve, but to be served. His ultimate service was to give his life a ransom for many.
We are living in a time which shows how little we are in control. I am not ruling, even over my own life. I am facing an unseen enemy that could take my life in a heartbeat. Except that that enemy cannot take my life. God is in charge of my life in this world, including its end. I am not here to be what I want to be and do what I want to do. I am here to serve under the rule and lordship of God. The Lord Jesus also said, “And having called the crowd to himself he said to them, ‘If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’” (Mk. 8.34). A cross is not something one carries around. It is an instrument of death. We are to lay our lives down, just as the Lord did. We may not be called to die for him physically, though we may be, but we are called to lay our lives down and live not for ourselves, but for him. Let us use this time of trouble to reflect on why we are really here.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-24-20
From this time many of his disciples went back and were no longer walking with him. Therefore Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away? No.” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (Jn. 6.66-68)
Let me explain the words, “Do you also want to go away? No.” The Greek construction says that the questioner expects a negative answer. I don’t know any other way to translate it. Jesus expected the disciples to say, “No,” but he gave them the opportunity to do so. We must choose.
I pray not, but there probably are people who are questioning and blaming God in this time of distress we are going through. Why would God let such a thing happen? He could have prevented this. As I have written before, God did not make the world as it is. He made it without sin. We are the ones who sinned and brought its consequences into the world. You may say, “Well, it wasn’t me. It was Adam and Eve.” There is truth in that, but we all must admit that we have willingly sinned. We are guilty, too.
But the question is not, “Why, God?” but, “To whom will we go?” Is there someone else to turn to in this sinful and suffering world? God, the offended, has promised us, the offenders, that if we will turn from our sin to him, put our trust in him, and yield our lives to him, he will forgive us, give us eternal life, and use our difficulties for our good, to prepare us for a place of blessing in his kingdom. If we do not put our trust in God, we will face the same difficulties, but with no answers. We will live to no purpose and will die without hope. He has the words of eternal life. To whom else will we go? Make the most of this time. Use it to draw closer to God, to walk with him, to deepen trust in him, and to pray for those in need. He is the answer.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-25-20
Blessed is a man who endures trial, for having been approved he will receive the crown of life which he promised to those loving him. (Ja. 1.12)
Everyone goes through trials in life. Most are minor. Some are great. Some are in between. Some of us had a difficult home life when we were growing up. Some were bullied in school. Some experienced disappointments, such as not making the ball team. Some have gone through a divorce, or were children whose parents divorced. Probably all of us have lost loved ones. And on we could go.
We are going through a trial now. How will we respond to it? I think we all know that our trials make us stronger if we endure properly by trusting in the Lord. I mentioned the ball team. I was not an athlete, but I was manager of the football team in college. Practice started in August when the temperatures were in the 90’s. I would watch those players decked out in their heavy, hot uniforms knocking the daylights out of each other and running wind sprints. Why would anyone put himself through such an ordeal? Because they wanted to get better and better at football and to win games. They willingly endured because they had a goal.
That is the way we should approach our trials in life. Yes, they are hard. Yes, they hurt. Yes, we would like to get out of them. But they are part of life in a fallen world. If we as Christians endure our trials as sent or allowed by God to make us stronger in him, we are blessed. It will be worth it all, as the song says, when we hear the Lord saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” here is your crown of life. There are also a crown of righteousness and a crown of glory. I mentioned one of these in an earlier devotional. One of my readers replied that she so wants that crown so that she will have something to cast at Jesus’ feet when we see him face to face.
Yes! That is the point. We don’t want a crown that we can glory in, but that we may have something of value to give to our blessed Lord (see Rev. 4.10). He gave all for us. Endure!
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-26-20
But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (Ja. 1.22)
All of us as Christians are hearers of and believers in the word of God. It is our guide in life, along with the leading of the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit will never give us any leading that does not agree with Scripture. That is one reason why we need to know the Bible, so we will know if we have a leading that is not right. Satan can speak to us, too.
But my point here is that we must be not only hearers, but also doers. In the trial we are presently in throughout the world, are we as Christians being doers of the word? We say we trust in God as directed by the Bible. Well – are we trusting him or complaining? Are we seeking him to take us through the trial to his purpose for it, or are we telling God he ought to get us out of it? It is easy to be a hearer of the word and to be a doer in the good times. How about when it is hard and it hurts? If we say that we are doers, but are not, we are deceiving ourselves, and the person who is self-deceived is in a dangerous place. Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 13.5 to examine ourselves. Let us not just talk a good talk, but walk a good walk.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-26-20
Beloved, don’t be surprised at the burning taking place among you for testing you as though a strange thing were happening to you, but as you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ rejoice, that also at the unveiling of his glory you may rejoice, exulting. (1 Pt. 4.12-13)
The burning Peter refers to is like the fire that refines precious metal. It is not there to destroy, but to improve. That is not a strange thing. Metal has to be refined to be useful. It is the same with us. To mix the metaphors, Jn. 12.24 says that a grain of wheat must die to produce much fruit. Why? Because there is life in the grain, but it is trapped in a husk. It must die and have the husk decay for the life to get out. If we are the Lord’s we have his life in us, but it is trapped in a husk of flesh, our self-nature. Our flesh much die so that the life of God can get out of us to minister to others. The burning taking place in our lives is there to refine us so that we may be useful to the Lord.
Then Peter writes of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Very few of us face real persecution of the sort that Christ received, as have many down through the centuries, and still do. There are people suffering imprisonment, the loss of property, even death in this day. But God wants to use the trials that come our way because of the nature of this fallen world to refine us. We are to take our trials as though they were our sufferings for Christ, for as we do so God is able to use them for his purpose. If we can surrender ourselves to him in the midst of our trials and rejoice in them, in the end, when Christ is unveiled to all the world, we will share in his glory and rejoice indeed. See Rom. 8.17.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-27-20
Dear Brothers and Sisters, It has been my plan in writing these daily devotionals to do one each day for the month of April. I have tried to offer comfort and encouragement, but also a challenge to trust in the Lord in this time of difficulty and to walk with him in it. We now have four days left in the month. With these four days I plan to deal with specific people who faced hardship with faithfulness and obedience to God. These come from the Bible’s great chapter on faith, Heb. 11. May the Lord use these thoughts for his purposes.
By faith Abraham being called obeyed by going out to a place which he was going to receive for an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going…. By faith Abraham, being tested, offered Isaac – he was offering even the only begotten – the one who received the promises, to whom it was said, “In Isaac will your seed be called,” having considered that God was able even to raise from the dead, from which he did receive him back figuratively. (Heb. 11.8, 17-19)
Abraham is the Bible’s great example of faith. Gen. 15.6 says, “And he put faith in I AM and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Gal. 3.7 says, “Know then that those of faith are sons of Abraham” because Abraham was the man of faith. He was sent out from his homeland to go he knew not where. He trusted and obeyed. He went through much more. Then he came to the great trial of his life. He and his wife Sarah were childless and had longed for children. Now they were too old to have them. God promised Abraham that he would have a son. Sarah conceived miraculously and gave birth a year later. How they loved Isaac. Then God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, whom he loved. Did Abraham question God or argue with him or just plain disobey him? No. He trusted and obeyed. As he took his knife to kill Isaac an angel called out to him not to harm the child, for now he knew that Abraham feared God even to the point of not withholding his only son. I think it is very instructive to notice in v. 5 of Gen. 22 that when Abraham and Isaac
were going to the place of sacrifice, Abraham told his servants that they were going to worship. To worship? Planning to kill his son for God? Yes, worship. Be aware that worship involves sacrifice (see Rom. 12.1). And because of his faith and obedience Abraham did receive Isaac back from death figuratively. Whatever we sacrifice to God will not be lost. It will have eternal value.
I challenge you, and myself, to worship God in this time of trouble by yielding ourselves wholly to him in faith and obedience.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-28-20
By faith even Sarah herself, being barren, received power for the foundation of a seed [i.e., not just to conceive, but to found a posterity that would one day give birth to the Messiah], even past the time of life, for she counted faithful the one who promised.
As we know, Abraham’s wife Sarah was unable to conceive and give birth. In that day that was considered a curse, a disgrace. People knew that life would end and they wanted heirs to carry on their name and memory. And there was the natural desire of almost everyone to have children. But now there was no hope. Sarah was past childbearing age and Abraham was “as good as dead” (Heb. 11.12). She and Abraham would die childless. But God! God promised Abraham a son, and though Sarah apparently did not believe it at first (Gen. 18.12) she came around in time. But our verse above says that she received power to found a seed by trusting in God. Most translations say “to conceive,” but the Greek word is used ten other times in the New Testament and in every case it is rendered “foundation,” which is what it means. I believe it means “foundation” here also. Whatever was in Sarah’s mind, God knew that she was not just conceiving a child, but also founding a seed, a posterity, that would result in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, for ”she counted faithful the one who promised.”
We have God’s promises that he will see us through the current trial whether we live or die. We are not living for this age, but for “the city having foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11.10). That city is the millennial kingdom and eternity beyond that. If a barren old woman could trust God, not just for a child, but for the foundation of the seed of the Messiah, can we not trust him wholly? Can we not turn our eyes away from this world and all its charms and look for that city? Trust and obey, for there’s no other way!
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-29-20
By faith Moses, having become grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, having chosen rather to be treated badly with the people of God than to have the temporary pleasure of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Heb. 11.24-26)
An up and down life! Marked for death before birth, saved by trusting parents, adopted by the daughter of the king, educated in all the learning of Egypt, fleeing for his life to a desert, living for forty years tending someone else’s sheep, facing down the king of Egypt, taking a stiff necked, rebellious people through the Red Sea on dry ground to another desert, to the Jordan River. That was Moses. He could have had it all, but he chose to be “treated badly with the people of God rather than to have the temporary pleasure of sin.” Why? Because he considered “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” What was the reward? The same as Abraham and Sarah’s – “the city having foundations, whose designer and builder is God,” the kingdom and eternal Heaven. The treasures of Egypt were temporary. Where is that kingdom of Pharaoh now? Scattered to the sands. Where is Moses now? Beholding the face of the Lord!
We are not facing all the difficulties that Moses faced, but we are faced with a scary, invisible enemy, a lot of inconvenience and worse, and even sickness and death. Moses chose to go with the Lord whatever the cost. He chose eternal spiritual riches over the riches of the world. Can we not receive with faith from the hand of God whatever he gives, knowing that he will use even the hard things for our good now and forever? The cities here have no real foundation. They can all fall. There is a city that has foundations. Let us live for it.
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
4-30-20
And these all, having received a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having foreseen something better for us, that they might not be completed without us. Therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, having laid aside every weight and the easily entangling sin, let us run with endurance the race lying before us, looking to the founder and perfecter of faith, Jesus, who for the joy lying before him endured the cross, having despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 11.39-12.2)
We have had a look at Abraham, Sarah, and Moses, and there are many more in Hebrews 11. They all were approved by God, but they did not receive the promise. Why? For one thing, the promise was not just the Promised Land, but the Lord Jesus. He is the spiritual equivalent of the land. He had not come into this world when they were living. We have received the promise, the Lord Jesus, but not fully. Only at his return, when the dead in Christ are raised and those alive at that time are caught up with them to meet him in the air and his millennial reign begins will we receive the promise fully. We have something of Christ, but it is yet to be seen how vast he is. We have this great cloud of witness around us, those who counted the promise of God as more valuable than anything on earth. They were people of faith and they died in faith.
Knowing the future, God knew that his purpose would not be complete until both his earthly and heavenly people were completed. He is in the process of doing that now and this virus we are contending with is one of his means of doing so. If we respond to it and to the Lord with faith, trusting in him to use this to complete us, if we will lay aside every weight and the
entangling sin and endure the race, painful as it may be at times, we will know that completeness in his time.
Our Lord Jesus ran his race in this way, a race far more demanding than anything we will ever experience. He endured the pain of the cross and the incomprehensible agony of a taste of hell for our sins, and despised the shame of dying as a blasphemer against the Father whom he loved and as a criminal, a traitor against Rome. Why? Because of the grace with which he loved us, but also for the joy set before him, the joy of sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God having won the victory. 2 Tim. 2.12 says that “if we endure we will also reign with him.” By God’s grace, let us all run with endurance the race set before us and for the eternal joy set before us. Amen!
Grace be with you. Tom Adcox
Copyright © 2021 by Tom Adcox. All rights reserved. You may share this work with others, provided you do not alter it and do not sell it or use it for any commercial purpose. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10.8). Also you must include this notice if you share it or any part of it.
Scripture quotations from the Old Testament are the author’s updates of the American Standard Version. Quotations from the New Testament are the author’s translations.