1 Kings 14:8-9

David kept my commandments . .. thou hast gone and made thee other gods.

Servitude or service-which?

The people of God had left their God, and He had left them, so that Shishak, the King of Egypt, came against them; and though the Lord had respect to their humble prayer, and would not suffer Shishak to destroy Jerusalem, yet He brought them into subjection to the Egyptian king. Our text tells us the reason for this servitude: “They shall be his servants; that they may know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”

I. There are some who have already chosen the service of the kingdoms of the countless. We have many round about us who have deliberately chosen not to serve God, but to serve other masters.

1. Some choose to be the slaves of open sin.

2. There are many persons who are not the worshippers of vice, but they are the votaries of money-making. They are the slaves of the thirst for wealth.

3. There are some others who do not try to get much money, but they are lovers of fashion, lovers of society, admirers of the world.

4. Then there is another cult that has lately come up, which some have chosen, so that they have become the devotees of “culture.”

5. I will only refer to one more class of those who have chosen the service of the kingdoms; these are the seekers of self-righteousness. This is an old-fashioned and very respectable deity whom many still worship.

II. Some seem to be pining to give up the service of God, and to go to the service of the kingdoms. It is a strange thing; but this evil is always breaking out even among the people of God.

1. Some want to change out of sheer love of change.

2. Some want to be off to their idols, because of the outward aspect of the new thing.

3. Sometimes men turn aside because of their loss of joy in the service of God. They are not serving the Lord as they used to do; they are doing but little for Him.

4. Then there are many who are led to want a change from the service of God by the flagging of others.

5. There are some who turn aside because religion now has brought them to a point where it entails some extra self-sacrifice.

III. There is a great contrast between the service of God and any other service.

1. If you are about to engage in the service of God, there is nothing demanded of you that will harm you. There Is no commandment of God which, if you keep it, will injure either your body or your soul.

2. Next, notice that there is nothing denied you, in the service of God, that would be a blessing to you. The promise is, “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly”

3. Once more observe that in the service of God strength will always be given according to your day.

4. And all the while that you are the servant of God, you have a sweet peace in reflecting upon what you have done. As George Herbert said, when he helped a poor woman with her load, and men wondered that the parson of the parish should carry a poor woman’s basket for her, “The memory of this will make the bells ring in my heart at night,” so the service of God makes the bells ring in our hearts.

5. Lastly, there is above all this a hope of the eternal reward which is so soon to come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)