Author: Dwight Clough

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw [Jesus] eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples: "Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?" — Mark 2:16Let’s start with this question: Why didn’t the teachers of the law eat with sinners? Why did they object? I think they were afraid. Afraid of being contaminated, no doubt. But also, perhaps, afraid of being exposed. Once you remove the religious facade, was there any substance to their lives? Was there any real power to their message, apart from the ecclesiastical power that they found in…

The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. — Psalm 103:6We must understand that what is true in the short run can be, and often is, false in the long run.For example, many people are eager to teach their children that life isn’t fair. This is a short term truth. Many times life isn’t fair. Horrible things are done to people for no good reason. This is not fair. It is not good. It is not right. But I would like to suggest to you that life is fair because God will make it fair. There is no…

"Go, sell everything you have … " — Mark 10:21"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy … " — John 10:10"You shall have no other gods before Me." — Exodus 20:3Our treasures will destroy us until we give them to God. In fact, as I look around, I see the enemy unleashed in the lives of people to take what they love and to ruin their lives with it.In The Lord of the Rings, "the precious" consumed Smeagol until he became Gollum, a ruined caricature of his former self. Likewise, the enemy has access only to the…

"… speak to Pharaoh for me …" — Genesis 50:4Twenty-six years have passed since Joseph was "put in charge of the entire land of Egypt." The famine was now a memory, and it appears that Joseph’s influence was beginning to recede. Joseph was 56, about halfway through his 110 years. By the end of the chapter — and the end of his life, he isn’t sending messages to Pharaoh at all. Instead, he is promising his brothers that God would come to their aid and bring them up out of Egypt.I’ve lived long enough now to see that new stars…

May they be called by my name, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac … — Genesis 48:16Jacob blesses the sons of Joseph and gives them the highest gift, his own name and the name of his fathers. I was a school bus driver when my wife was pregnant with our first son. We knew it was a boy, but we were having trouble deciding on a name. But one day as I was driving around in my school bus, with nobody on board, it came to me that our son should be named after his great-greatgrandfather Hans…

So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob! Jacob!""Here I am," he replied."I am God, the God of your father," He said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes." — Genesis 46:1-4Every time I return…

But Jacob said, "My son [Benjamin] will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow." — Genesis 42:38Jacob lost his favorite wife. He lost his favorite son. Now it looked like he might lose Benjamin as well.Abraham offered Isaac on the altar to God. As you know, Abraham received his son back unharmed. But he had no way of knowing how that sacrifice would play out when he…

They said to one another, "Surely we are being punished … " — Genesis 42:21Joseph’s ten brothers didn’t understand what was going on. They thought this would be a simple trip: Go to Egypt; buy grain. But suddenly they were caught in the middle of something that didn’t make sense. They were accused of a capital offense. They were thrown in jail. Now one of them was to be held long term as a hostage.They reasoned that they were being punished. How can you account for it any other way?But were they being punished?No. They were being rescued. It isn’t…

The second son [Joseph] named Ephraim and said, "It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." — Genesis 41:52All of us want to bear fruit in our Christian lives. We want to deeply touch other people so that their lives are enriched and their eternal destiny is changed for the better. I always tried to convince God that I was smart, gifted and talented. That He could really use someone like me. That the world needed me. Of course, you can guess how far that went with God, and with anybody else. It wasn’t…

Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, "It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household." — Genesis 41:51There are two ways to forget the past. One is to deny it, to pretend it never happened, to pack it away and never "go there." That would be fine, if it worked. The problem is — it doesn’t. We may try to forget the past this way, but the past doesn’t forget us. It comes back to haunt us.The second way to forget the past is go there with God, face all the "demons"…