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Day 247, or September the 4th. Why not choose to make God smile? Our thoughts today come

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from Hosea chapter 11 verse 7. My people are determined to turn from me, even though they

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call me God Most High. I will by no means exalt them.

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Here are the big pictures surrounding this verse. Hosea reminds his fellow countrymen that God's

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judgment is certain, but that doesn't mean God has stopped loving them. On the contrary,

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he loves them so much that wherever they go, he will always be their God. They have been

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given chance after chance, until chances run out and judgment comes. Hosea knows how God

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feels because he has given his unfaithful wife Goma many chances too, and she has spurned

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them all in favour of simply going her own way.

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And now today's action step. When I taught our two sons to ride a bike,

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I ran behind them ready to catch hold of them and their bicycle if they lost control. As

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they became more proficient, they began to insist on doing it themselves. I had no choice

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but to let them, as I couldn't keep up with them. I had to watch them fall sometimes and

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graze their knees or elbows. Of course it was the only way they could learn. Should

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I have insisted on keeping hold of them? That wouldn't have been a sign of love. It would

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have been a sign of control. When they eventually could ride, they thanked me for teaching them,

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but so often we neglect to thank God for his help in our lives. It's the same with us

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when we insist on doing it ourselves rather than working with God. He allows us to try,

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fail and try again. That's how much he loves us. You hear people say, Why doesn't God

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do something about this or that? The answer is that he loves us too much to take our free

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will from us. He wants us to choose for ourselves. When a child turns to you for a cuddle simply

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because they want to, it's a great feeling. Today you can please God simply by trusting

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him instead of worrying. Now isn't that an amazing thought? You can make God happy or

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sad.