They feared the Lord, but served their own gods

“They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” - 2 Kings 17v33

When the king of Assyria repopulated Samaria with foreign peoples they naturally brought their own false gods with them. This displeased the Lord and He sent a pack of lions and some of the people were killed. The people quickly determined that God was not happy, so sent for someone to teach them about Him.

After they were taught, they decided that they had room for this new God and added Him to their religious practices. The “feared the Lord and they served their own gods.”

In some places in the world today this is still a real problem. People make a profession of faith and then just add God to their religious practices. Sometimes they just add that prayer to what they are counting on, but go on with their other practices as well. They never put their full faith in Christ.

It is even sadder when Christians decide that they are going to fear the Lord, but continue serving their gods of lust, materialism, greed, pride, etc. They want to fear the Lord, but they love their practices too much to give them up. When we do this, we are no better than the people who “feared the Lord, but served their own gods.”