Author: Dwight Clough

A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all. — Psalm 34:19When trouble comes, our misperceptions rush to the surface…. I’m trapped. God has forgotten about me. It will only get worse. God doesn’t like me any more. God is just punishing me for something I must have done wrong. God likes to see me squirm.Then God gives us an opportunity to replace doubt with faith. This is Divine work — we cannot do it on our own. We can only bring our deepest fears to Jesus and see what He wants to do…

The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. — John 1:9How much light does it take to see? Not much. At night, I move around the house with only a dim night light. I’ve walked outside with only the light of the moon and a few stars. I like plenty of light. Especially when I’m trying to clean; I mean you have to be able to see the dirt to remove it. But, to survive, you don’t need much light.What am I saying?It’s very clear that not everybody gets the same amount of light. …

Okay, everybody. I need this one. Time is my biggest challenge. But every time I enter the presence of God, I realize that there is no shortage of time.The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. — Psalm 23:1We imagine ourselves to be very busy and terribly short on time. We must understand that this is a lie. God is not stingy. He has not shortchanged us on time. We have time in abundance. It is a joy and a privilege to finish a task, but God will release us from every unfinished work that didn’t fit…

Again, another all time favorite. I remember a conversation with my wife’s grandmother, a rather staunch German Mennonite. I said to her, “I am so glad that God is tolerant.” At first she was affronted by that. But then, as we talked we both realized that if God wasn’t tolerant, neither one of us would be there. God works with regular human beings who make lots of mistakes. In fact, that’s what He specializes in doing."O sun, stand still … " — Joshua 10:12I’m always struck by this passage. Joshua gives a command to the heavenly bodies, and God rearranges…

I originally sent this devotional out exactly five years ago today. This is one of the most misunderstood concepts in all of Christendom. God is not trying to build an army of exhausted, try harder Christians. On the contrary, Jesus came to free us from slavery. The best thing you can do is let yourself be loved by God. Everything else flows out of that.They are lazy. — Exodus 5:8Do you want to be a better Christian? Try harder. This advice is ubiquitous, but where does it come from? Doesn’t it come from Pharaoh? Pharaoh says, "Oh, you don’t like…

"Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God?" — 1 Samuel 6:20Sadly, many needed to die before people began to wake up to reality: God is holy. Israelites died in battle because their leaders had no regard for the Lord. Philistines died of plagues because they thought the ark of God was booty, a plaything for their people and their god. And now the men of Beth Shemesh die because they had the presumption to think their eyes had the right to pry into the secrets of God’s ark.For so many years God posted "Off Limits"…

Amaziah, however, would not listen, for God so worked that He might hand them over to Jeohash, because they sought the gods of Edom. — 2 Chronicles 25:20God doesn’t trust just anybody to lead His people. Sooner or later he will put that leader to the test, and that test will reveal the character of the leader.King Amaziah is a case in point. About 130 years after the nation of Israel divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, Amaziah becomes king of Judah. He attempts to consolidate his power by hiring a mercenary army…

I wrote this about four years ago, but things haven’t changed!"Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it." — Mark 8:12Jesus had just finished feeding four thousand people out in the wilderness. He healed people by the thousands. He drove out demons and raised the dead.But none of this was good enough for these religionists who requested a sign. They wanted God to play ball by their rules, to wait on their table.Sometimes we try to manipulate God. We try to force Him back into the box…

Saul counted the men who were with him. They numbered about six hundred. – 1 Samuel 13:15What was Saul counting? It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to realize that he had twice as many men as Gideon did, when Gideon put the Midianites to flight (Judges 7). What was he counting? If he was trying to number his assets, they were as thin as his relationship with God. Clearly he was counting the wrong thing. What he needed was the presence of God, not more men. God really doesn’t care how many men we have, or how many loaves and…

"How many loaves do you have?" He asked. "Go and see." – Mark 6:38It’s easy to focus on our lack. We don’t have enough money. We don’t have enough time. We don’t have enough experience. And so on. But Jesus turns the question around. "How much do you have?" He asks. To Moses, God asked, "What is that in your hand?" Moses thought it was just a stick, but God saw that it would split an ocean in two.Each of us has something to offer. It may seem small. It may seem insignificant. But miracles grow out of what we…