Serve the Lord only

“It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord. And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.’” 1 Samuel 7:2-3
After the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant, and later returned it because it brought plagues on the people in every city where it went, the ark was taken to Kiriath Jearim, a town in the region of Judah. It remained there for many years, until King David sought to take it up to Jerusalem.
Although the ark had now been returned to Israel, the people were still not happy. They sought after the Lord, but were in perpetual mourning. But Samuel could see the problem: while they were seeking the Lord, they were not doing it whole-heartedly. They were still holding onto their worship of the gods of the people around them.
Here’s the lesson for us: Mixed worship will not make you happy. You can’t cover all your bases when it comes to religion. If we are not serving God and God alone, we will always be miserable. This is the basis of the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3). Many people misunderstand this commandment. God is not saying that He is to be the first among many gods that we might worship, but He is to be the only God we worship.
Sure, we might not worship statues or physical idols like the Israelites did back in Bible history, but we do worship the gods of this world: sporting heros, beauty, and the most insidious idol of all, money. It’s time to commit ourselves to the Lord and to serve Him only. Only then will we find true satisfaction and meaning in life.