When I fed them, they were satisfied. But when they were satisfied, then they forgot me. Hosea 13 six an old proverb warns, don't bite the hand that feeds you. But that is exactly what God's people did. God had blessed the people. When they cried out to him because of some difficulty they faced, he delivered them from the trouble. But when the trouble was gone and everything was back to normal and looking good, the people became proud, arrogant and rebellious. When life was hard, they begged God to help them. But when life got easier, they forgot about him. It happens even today. Most of us are pretty good about going to the Lord when we have problems in our lives and we should go to him because he cares for us and he wants to help us through our troubles and trials. But we seem to have a very short memory and once things are back on track in life, we may forget what the Lord has done for us. A man in trouble falls on his knees before the Lord and begs for help and deliverance. The Lord hears the man's prayer, has mercy on him, and answers. At first the man is humble before God and grateful for what the Lord has done. But when his troubles have passed, the man begins to think more highly of himself than he should, giving God less credit for the new lease he has on life. Sometimes a man will even brag about how he got himself out of trouble. Feeling less need to be grateful to God. The man goes about his business, enjoying his success and praising himself for being so wise and talented. In no time at all, the man is giving only lip service to the Lord. He grows slack in his attendance at Bible study and worship. His giving slips along with his daily Bible reading and prayer time. With time he even forgets the fact that it was the Lord who delivered him from whatever it was that troubled him in the first place. Be warned, o foolish man. The Lord will have his due. He will demand an account of your use or your misuse of his blessings and deliverance. We must be careful that we dont use God as a kind of genie in a bottle who grants our wishes, does our bidding and gets us out of trouble, after which we go on our merry way without giving much more thought to him.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to dailythoughtspodcastmail.com. Have a great day and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.