“Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you” (I Samuel 12:24).
The admonition of Samuel to the people of God, after they had asked for a king, was to have an awesome fear of God, serve Him with all their hearts and consider all the great things God had done for them. Nothing is more important in service than to do it according to the unchangeable truths of the word of God. Service must always be aligned with the Scriptures.
In Exodus 32, Moses had been on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights. Due to this long delay in coming down, the children of Israel became extremely impatient, asking Aaron to “make us gods, which shall go before us” (v.1). Aaron obliged them by making a golden calf. He even built an altar before it in order to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings (vv.5,6). Aaron put the name of the “Lord” on an idolatrous practice. He was far from serving in truth. God was not pleased and almost wiped them out.
In Judges 17, a similar incident happened. A man by the name of Micah had stolen eleven hundred pieces of silver from his mother which he eventually returned (vv.1,2). The mother was exceptionally happy about this and said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD” (v.3). Sounds good so far, except she added, “to make a graven image and a molten image” (v.3). She certainly would not be serving the Lord in truth by doing so. The second commandment was to never make any graven images.
Service and truth go hand in hand. The Apostle Paul stated, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9). May our preaching (service) always be according to the truth. NPS
