Author: Dwight Clough

… but that night they caught nothing. — John 21:3Sometimes you come up empty. We all do. In my office, I keep a framed copy of a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip. Calvin says to Hobbes, "I thought I had a great idea, but it never really took off. … In fact, it didn’t even get on the runway. … I guess you could say it exploded in the hangar." I can relate. Peter thought it would be a good idea to go out fishing, but an all night effort yielded nothing. His best effort was barren.I don’t think Peter…

Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless? — [Eliphaz to Job] Job 22:5[God] will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. — Psalm 37:6Here we have the search for sin and the promise of vindication. In the guise of religion, some are eager to search out every hidden sin. They call for repentance because they delight in exposing sin, and their world won’t work without a constant reminder of how very evil we are.On the other hand, God is eager to reveal His work in us. As long…

Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. — Galatians 6:17Everybody has their heroes. Let me tell you who mine are. My heroes are people who have suffered for their faith. People like Noble Alexander who spent 22 years in the Cuban gulag. Pastor Wally who turned down wealth and privilege to endure torture and an order for his execution. Tran Mai whose daughters were summoned to the police station and interrogated while he sat in a Vietnamese prison. Pastor Lamb whose wife died during his long incarceration.I stand in awe…

The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. — Psalm 145:14How many of us have been humbled by a sin we thought we had defeated? How many of us have walked through humiliating circumstances — the loss of wealth or health or reputation? A down-and-out person has very few friends. Sure, there are people who will "minister" to them, but there is a huge difference between ministry and friendship.Most of us know what it’s like to fall. I want you to know that you do have a Friend when you fall. When no…

Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. — Psalm 37:4At the beginning, we are not mature. On the surface, that seems obvious, but sometimes it’s easy to forget.As we start out in life as little babies, we don’t even know that other people exist, much less that we should love them even if that means personal sacrifice. That is a lesson that we learn much, much later.God’s plan is for parents to nurture their little children so that they can take the steps of growth toward maturity. But parents aren’t perfect, of…

You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. — Psalm 145:16Desire is basic to who we are. Without desires we wouldn’t be human. God created us to want affection, approval, nourishment, love, sex, fulfillment and so on. The One who loves us and the one who hates us contend for our desires.The enemy promises shortcuts to satisfy our desires, but leaves us empty, hungry for more. The food he brings can only carry the illusion of satisfying while it creates more and more pain that twists our hearts. Ultimately, he wants to put us in such…

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. — Mark 2:21We live life through our paradigms — that is, our way of seeing things. Within our paradigms we make small steps of growth. But then something happens to change our whole way of seeing things, and our life undergoes a transformation.For example, for many years I thought my relationship with God was all about my obedience. That was my paradigm. But then God shattered that paradigm. He showed me that…

The LORD is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made. — Psalm 145:9To be honest with you, I have often puzzled over how God will judge the world. After all, so many people are products of deception. How can they be made to pay the full price for their own gullibility? I don’t know the answer to that. But I know this: God has compassion on all He has made. God’s compassion rises above pain. Jesus met His persecutor, Saul, on the road to Damascus. The Risen Lord could have easily killed this fanatic who led…

Taste and see that the LORD is good. — Psalm 34:8I keep coming back to this verse. I just finished reading the testimony of a man who wanted to become a Christian, but he didn’t want a religion that was only a lot of talk. He wanted something supernatural, something he could experience, something he could taste. But all he could find was Christian talk, so he followed an Eastern guru and got detoured several years into demonic experiences.I want to say this: It doesn’t matter whether you are a Charismatic or not, whether you are mystic or not, or…

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. — 1 Peter 4:9I was encouraged by this story, sent to me by Chris, a Discoveries reader. I don’t think I need to comment on this – the fingerprints of God are all over it.I remember a couple at a church we attended in Spain. They were retired, and he had many health problems. We were told by many that they had the "gift of hospitality". We wondered how, since they had so little. Maria and Jose approached us one Sunday and invited us to dinner the following Sunday. We were expecting, but…