Author: Dwight Clough

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. — Genesis 32:24If ever Jacob needed a word of encouragement, now was the time. His brother Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men. That could mean only one thing, Jacob was in great danger. Everything he had worked for in the last twenty years could be gone in a few hours. His wives and his children could be taken from him, and he would be powerless to prevent it.One day when my two boys were 8 and 11, they got into a fight. (One of…

When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. — Genesis 31:19Sometimes you just wonder. What was Rachel thinking? I guess she thought she needed all the luck she could get. I have a little rhyme I used to say to my son, "Two plus two equals four, seldom less, sometimes more." Here is a situation where addition doesn’t work. You can’t add to God and get more. You only get less.When we add our efforts to God’s, we don’t end up ahead, we end up behind. God quietly steps out of the way until…

The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth … — Numbers 23:16The LORD transacts business with many people. God meets with angels, good and evil (Job 1:6, 1 Kings 22:19+). Clearly, a meeting with God can be life changing. Saul the persecutor was transformed into Paul the Apostle. But some people meet with God, do business, and walk away unchanged. Balaam appears to be one of these people. He could get a true word from God, and still be a false prophet. Balaam was reckless (Numbers 22:32) and auctioned his spiritual gifts to the highest bidder…

When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. — Matthew 2:3The world is full of people who are disturbed by the news that a King has been born. Herod is so crazed with power that when he finds out the news that the Messiah has been born, his first response is to try to find him and kill him. The people of Jerusalem also somehow seem to know that this Messiah came to save them from their sins, and they wanted no such salvation.Why do we resist letting Christ be King? I suggest it’s because…

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. — Genesis 2:1I really enjoy the slide show on this page, and had it in mind as I wrote my comments below:http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/ God doesn’t need the heavens, of course. But we need the heavens and the earth to begin to comprehend who God is. The same God who arranged the galaxies, has a lofty plan that includes us. The God who shaped the earth is shaping our lives. The God who weaved together strands of DNA, is weaving our circumstances with His love. And the God who…

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." — Luke 6:38I’m not much of a TV watcher, but I do like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. For those of you not familiar with the show, people contact the network explaining why they need their home remodeled — often there’s an illness or some other tragedy or disaster that requires a change in the person’s living environment. The network gets 1,000 applications a day…

Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbiter between you?” — Luke 12:14As we bring Jesus into our world, we may be tempted to put to right situations we are not called to correct, injustices we are not called to resolve. In this passage, a man from the crowd is trying to get Jesus to act as a probate court — dividing an inheritance. Jesus flatly refuses to get involved. This is a tough one to unravel. Why does Jesus turn down this request?Let’s start with what we know and what we don’t know. We know that…

The LORD said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon. " — Numbers 21:34Victory rests on two things: First and most important, the LORD must hand our enemy over to us. In our spiritual battle, that has been done. Jesus triumphed over all the forces of darkness. They cannot defeat us because they have been defeated themselves.Second, we must go take possession of what is ours. The battle…

The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." — Numbers 21:8We have a daughter who was born with a club foot. When she was a little baby, the bottom of her foot was turned at a 90 degree angle away from where it should have been. This was a problem, of course, because unless her foot moved into the correct position, she would never walk properly.Clearly, this seemed like a perfect opportunity for God to heal. Some of you know the story. We…

Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. — Numbers 20:28What defines who you are? Where does your identity come from?In the previous chapters, entire groups of people died because they grumbled against Aaron and his place of privilege before the Lord. No one else could enter the Holy of Holies. Only Aaron could approach God Himself to bring atonement for all people.And now, it’s over. Aaron fell. His body returned to dust there at the top of the…