Daily EncouragementSample

These words refer to the resettlement of Samaria by the king of Assyria. He brought people from afar to replace the Israelites and “they worshipped the Lord, but they also served their own gods.” They confirmed to the outward practices of the true religion while continuing to serve their own idols.

We may feel that there was some excuse for these pagans who were forced to live in a strange country and who viewed the Lord as no more than “the god of the land.” We can understand how converts from an animistic background may at least be tempted to still serve their ancestors. And the relevance of this passage does not end there.

How many today are worshipping the Lord and serving the god of money at the same time? Some, believing a perverted prosperity doctrine, think, as did some people in New Testament times, “that godliness is a means to financial gain” (1 Tim. 6:5). This is a dangerous path, “for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (2 Kings 6:10). It is a deadly path too, because “You cannot serve God and money” (Matt. 6:24). To try to serve our own gods and worship the true God at the same time is to attempt the impossible.