Worship

Worship

For the Lord had made a covenant with the descendants of Jacob and commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow before them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. Worship only the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt with such mighty miracles and power. You must worship him and bow before him; offer sacrifices to him alone.”

2 Kings 17:35-36

We see in these verses that God does not wish to share worship with anyone or anything else. After 250 years of rebellion and sin, the nation of Israel was conquered by Assyria. The Assyrians had a policy of taking the best citizens of a conquered nation to their own land and then colonizing the captive land with foreigners. This is how the Samaritan people came about—they were a mixed breed.

At first there was no universal religious faith in Samaria, so the leaders addressed the problem—but in an unusual way. They imported a Jewish priest to instruct the people about the Lord, but then they encouraged the people to worship both Jehovah and the national gods. But God didn’t want mixed worship. All through the Bible he asks for undivided hearts. Many times in the Old Testament God stretched out his arm to save his people from their troubles, and yet they didn’t get it. He was the only one they were supposed to worship!

“Too many people . . . attend to the outward forms of worship, lest they should lose status; but in their hearts they enthrone worldly and worthless ideals.”^a

Sometimes we think that without renouncing other gods, we can give God some sort of obligatory recognition. But—here’s a lesson for us and for our children—he wants our undivided attention and praise.

Father,

Thank you for your mighty, outstretched arm that throughout the ages has reached people and saved them from distress. Forgive us for running to other things—other gods. May we serve you with undivided hearts. Amen.