They feared the Lord, but…

However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places … So they feared the LORD, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods- according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. – 2 Kings 17v29-33

The priest who was sent back to Samaria to teach about the Lord had some success. He taught them to ‘fear the Lord’ and some of them did, at least to some extent.

There was, however, a big problem. In addition to fearing the Lord every nation continued to make gods of their own and to build shrines and worship them. They did not wholly fear the Lord. They tried to mix the fear of the Lord with their old life and their old idols. Their hearts never changed – they just put another god on their god shelf.

This never works. One of the reasons Paul praised churches like the church in Thessalonica was because they had turned from their idols to serve the living and true God. Real fear of the Lord involves doing away with all the rest.

I have often met people through the years who have been encouraged to just ‘pray this prayer’ and everything will be okay. They do so, and their name is ticked off as another one bound for glory. Yet, in their minds, all they do is add one more god to their god shelf; one more insurance policy. They never forsake their old ways or their old gods, they just add another one.

We can’t really fear the Lord and hold on to our other gods. It is time to let whatever god we are holding on to go. Whether it Self or Sex or Stuff or any other god it is time to stop trying to fear the Lord and also serve them.

Lets turn from them to the living and true God.