Author: Dwight Clough

He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. — Luke 1:51An unbeliever would scoff at Mary’s song. The boot of the Roman empire was on the neck of the Jewish nation. Mighty deeds were measured in columns of marching Roman soldiers. The great miracles of deliverance for Israel were history — ancient history it seemed. The people of Israel lived and died under the watchful eye of the Roman state.But God gives a great gift to His children. He enables us to see what others cannot see. The unbeliever…

"Do not be afraid… " — Revelation 1:17I don’t know about you, but I can think of plenty of reasons to be afraid when I read the book of Revelation. If ever there was a book that takes you out of your comfort zone, this is it. On one hand, when God shows up in all His glory, we forget all our theology and join John face down on the earth, pale and trembling. On the other hand, we live in a world gone mad, a world populated with those who hate God, and, since they can’t take a swing…

"I know your deeds…" — Revelation 2:2Jesus knows our deeds. They are measured and they have value. In the book of Revelation, we learn that the prayers of the saints are stored in jars in heaven. At the right moment, they will be poured out over the earth. If you look at the great heroes of the Bible, they all had seasons in their lives where they lived in obscurity and were occupied with the tedious, the mundane, the monotonous. Joseph supervised prisoners, Moses and David watched sheep, Paul lived in the desert. Even Jesus worked a trade far from…

"I know your deeds…" — Revelation 2:2Here is where we start. Jesus knows our deeds. This is a great comfort. Because Jesus knows our deeds, we don’t need to hide. The One who knows our deeds knows how helpless we are to do anything good apart from Him. So we always rush to Him, whether our deeds are good or bad. On one level, it makes little difference. Have we sinned? We cling to Jesus. Have we done well? We cling to Jesus. That becomes our instinct, our reflex, our automatic response to everything. "Jesus, here I am, helpless without…

… where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. — 2 Corinthians 3:17Freedom is the heritage of the sons and daughters of God. When God leaves, freedom leaves. The ungodly cannot be free, because freedom becomes for them a license to do evil, and then layer upon layer of laws must be passed to keep a nation of evildoers from destroying itself. But God is free and freedom is His gift to us who believe. We think of God as giving restraint. But in reality, God removes the need for restraint. God’s work in us purifies our desires,…

[The LORD] satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. — Psalm 103:5This is one of my favorite passages in all scripture. All of us have dreams, hopes, desires. Some of them are lofty and noble. Some of them may be secret and shameful. But we all have desires, and it seems to each of us that if we only got what we desired (a certain marriage partner, a certain job, a dream home, a certain sum of money, whatever), then we would be truly happy.But this passage teaches us that those things…

And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. — 2 Timothy 2:24I am overwhelmed by the wisdom of God. One day someone wrote me with a criticism that initially came across to me as sarcastic and rude. The email stung, and my first desire was to lash back with some clever reply of my own.But the Lord impressed me with the need to bring my hurt and anger to Him, to let Him minister to me in the place where this criticism "got to me." So I just lingered…

Instead, [a woman’s beauty] should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. — 1 Peter 3:4What does God value? There is something inside you that God values. And this beauty inside you is not pocket change to God. It is treasure.My daughters sometimes ask me, "Daddy, do you think I’m pretty?" Every time they do, I am touched by their vulnerability and by the trust they put in me. I feel overwhelmed. And, yes, I look them in the eyes and I tell them,…

… punishing the children for the sin of the fathers … — Exodus 20:5For a God who says He loves justice, this seemed awfully unfair to me.So I asked Him about it. Remember, when God doesn’t make sense, pursue Him. Don’t run away from Him, run after Him. Tug on His sleeve, and don’t let go, just like my kids do with me.Anyway, I asked God. And He pointed out to me that the verse doesn’t say that God punishes children because their fathers sin. Instead, God punishes the next generation because, although they decry the faults of their elders,…

… the testing of your faith develops perseverance. — James 1:2I like to walk out in nature. That’s my way of connecting with God. For walkers, here in Wisconsin we have three seasons: one month of yellow jackets followed by seven months of cold followed by four months of mosquitoes. Sometimes in the summer months, the marsh where I like to walk is filled with angry, biting, hungry, swarming insects. Years ago I would take a quick walk, swatting madly at the bugs feeding on my flesh, and race back to the car, miserable and defeated. Sometimes I went the…