Author: Dwight Clough

"Why then were you not afraid …?" — Numbers 12:8In almost every case, when the Lord speaks to us about fear, He says, "Do not be afraid." But here, we have a different story. The Lord was so angry with his servants for speaking against their leader that He temporarily struck Miriam with leprosy. "Why were you not afraid?" It almost seems that God is incredulous. When I was a little boy I loved collecting insects in jars with nail holes in the lids. One day I decided to create the mother of all insect collections. I had a huge…

And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. — 2 Timothy 2:24-26There is a great partnership here, between the Lord and His people. Our job is to break the way of righteousness down into little steps, small choices. God’s…

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. — Proverbs 27:12There are different kinds of fear, and fear is used in different ways by God and by the enemy. Fear from the enemy paralyzes. Fear from God motivates.Fear from the enemy is based on lies. Fear from God is based on truth.Fear from the enemy pushes us into sin. Fear from God pushes us away from sin.All my life I have heard Christians trying to explain what "the fear of the Lord" is. Some say it is "reverent awe." Others say it…

Yet when [Jesus] heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days. — John 11:6Do the math. When Jesus got to Bethany, Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. Even if Jesus had left as soon as He got the message that Lazarus was ill, He still would have been two days late to prevent the death of His friend.The delay of Jesus established a couple of important things: First, Jesus knew exactly what was going on. The death of Lazarus did not take Him by surprise. Second, Jesus was completely in charge. This…

"Lord, the one You love is sick." — John 11:3It’s a simple prayer. Many times the more desperate we are, the more needy we are, the more simple our prayers become. "Help!" I remember times when I was so sick that all I could pray was, "O God! O God! O God!" over and over again because my brain couldn’t contain anything more. There was no theology, just raw need and a Father in heaven.This is also a prayer of expectation. Mary and Martha knew where they stood with the Lord. Jesus could do what He wanted, and they knew…

… the spirit returns to God who gave it. — Ecclesiastes 12:7Here we have the single most important fact of our existence. When I scan back through my own life, I see snapshots — walking down Chicago Avenue at night and seeing a million lights reflected in the rain, sitting on the bathroom floor next to my wife in agony during her first miscarriage, driving past the palm trees at Fort Fisher and seeing the result of my dad’s trimming efforts — one leaf sticking straight up. I see myself holding my newborn babies, and watch them close the coffin…

Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. — Ecclesiastes 11:1Why would we cast our bread upon the waters? Pretty simple: You can’t keep it. It molds; it spoils; it dries out. Who wants stale bread? Better to give away what we have when we still have strength to give.It’s a reckless thing, really. Giving. Giving away. Giving up. Letting go. Upon the waters, we cast our bread. The bread is soon gone. It disappears and we cannot bring it back.That is the beauty of all of this. When we give our lives…

[Jesus] came unto His own … — John 1:11God is not satisfied until He enters our world. Jesus didn’t make phone calls from heaven to inquire about the condition of the human race. God is not a voice from the past that we can only know through His writings. I’m speaking to the 20 year old me and to anyone else who might rise up early to pour over the scriptures, to sing hymns, to pray through a long, long list, but never feel like he connected with God. We don’t connect with God by sending radio signals out into…

No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. — Ecclesiastes 8:17The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. — Ecclesiastes 9:17I don’t care how good a Christian you are, you will eventually come face to face with things in life that you cannot understand. Tamara White who runs an inner city ministry for teen "throw aways" told me stories of little children who trusted Jesus as their Savior and were molested the same night. How do you explain that? I cannot. Pat answers like: "We live in…

… while I was still searching but not finding — I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. — Ecclesiastes 7:28There are a few verses in the Bible that are just plain provocative and this is one of them. I cringe and wonder, "How did this get in here?"But there it is.And if ever there was a verse that didn’t square with my experience, this is one of them. I know many godly women who love the Lord with all their hearts, and, honestly, not as many men. So let’s see if…