Author: Dwight Clough

Quit scraping and fawning over mere humans, so full of themselves, so full of hot air! Can’t you see there’s nothing to them? — Isaiah 2:22 The MessageI used to say that I didn’t care what people thought about me. Of course, I was lying to myself. I cared a great deal. I wanted everyone to like me. I wanted everyone to approve of me. When someone criticized me or insulted me, I might not have shown it on the outside, but inwardly I was crushed.One day a couple years ago, my boss told me that I was being "completely…

Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When He was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. — Acts 20:9I’m glad the Lord included this story in the book of Acts. Notice how the inspired word of God includes several details. It was the middle of the night. Paul was talking "on and on." Several lamps were burning, robbing the room of invigorating oxygen. And Eutychus was young. Was the Lord making allowances for this…

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. — Isaiah 1:18God is reasonable. Years ago I went off to Bible college unprepared for what would meet me there. I thought I would become a pastor or an evangelist, but when I finished school, I was so disillusioned that I barely kept my faith. I drifted. I was afraid to let go of God altogether, but I was disappointed in what I saw in the church and I wanted out, somehow.I probably would have stayed on the fringes forever, but God reasoned with me. He listened to all my objections…

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of My sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. — Isaiah 1:15-17In the end, God Himself will rise up on behalf of the defenseless. Meanwhile, He offers us the opportunity to do His work. Hidden in this rebuke of a nation…

… the God of all comfort … comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. — 2 Corinthians 1:3-4Human suffering provokes a whole range of responses. Job’s "comforters" added to his torment by assigning blame where it didn’t belong. They thought they were helping, but disapproval should never be mistaken for a solution.Some sympathy is merely thinly veiled contempt. Some "comforters" want to feel better about themselves by pretending to care about others. Some people empathize — they feel pain with the sufferer, usually…

… so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. — 2 Corinthians 1:4I want to focus on the word "any." Why can we comfort those in "any" trouble? Because we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Because now that we are comforted, we no longer need to rush in with all the answers. We don’t have all the answers. Let’s face it: We don’t have most of the answers. But we do have this: Comfort that shows up every time we are in distress.Here’s why we don’t…

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. — 2 Corinthians 2:14Where are we in life? Are we troubled? Are we discouraged? Are we pressed far beyond our ability to endure (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)? Are we bored? Are we distracted?Only one thing will cut crossways through all that commands our attention and allegiance. Only one thing will free us when everything else puts us under the sentence of death. That one thing is the knowledge of God. Knowing God is not the…

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. — Matthew 5:10Okay, let’s face it: Do any of us really want to be persecuted? I don’t. Persecution, rooted in lies, is the natural result of God visiting this earth. Those who cannot see God because their hearts are impure, are stirred up by their corrupted desires, and make war against God by attacking His children.But here God reminds us that persecutors don’t get the last word. God has already measured the full force of persecution. He has lined it up against the Kingdom…

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. — Matthew 5:9Where do fights and quarrels come from? They come from corrupted desires that battle within. Good desires gone bad, tainted with lies, food for the enemy. Peacemakers see things as they truly are.I remember sitting down with a fellow who was trapped in a life of hate. His very speech was inflammatory. But as his story unfolded, I found a little boy inside who never had his father’s love, who always played second fiddle to the father’s favorite children. We are peacemakers. We bring Jesus to…

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. — Matthew 5:8Okay, either this is impossible, or it is not. Can any of us be pure in heart? Not without the touch of God. Who scrubs our souls clean? Who removes the lies that fester within? Jesus touches us and we are made pure. We don’t come to the table clean. We come as we are, and along the way Jesus makes us clean.Why can’t the impure see God? Because their vision is distorted and darkened. They cannot know the truth because their very eyes lie to them. …