Fearing, and serving

“So while these nations feared the Lord, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.” 2 Kings 17:41 (NASB)
This verse describes the state of the people from many nations who had been captured by the Assyrians. Their policy was to separate their captives and mingle the various people groups together so their individual national identities would be lost. Then they would re-settle these mixed people in other lands. The area of the northern kingdom of Israel, also called Samaria, was one of these places. (Hence we get the term ‘Samaritan’, referring to one of these mixed people who could not fully trace back to their Jewish heritage and so were despised by the Jews in Jesus’ time.)
The people ‘feared the Lord’ in the sense that they were afraid of Him. When they first arrived and were worshipping their own gods, He sent lions into the cities (2 Kin. 17:25). But they were not converted: they continued to serve their idols, and tried to placate the Lord at the same time.
The lesson is the same for all people today. There is but one true and living God. People may fear Him, but serve their own idol, be that their career, their ideals, their possessions, money, etc. The Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters (Matt. 6:24), and that we are to choose whom we will serve (Josh. 24:15). We are to fear God, and to serve Him and Him alone.