Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
The words belong to Samuel's parting address to Israel, delivered at Gilgal after the people welcomed Saul as king, with Gilgal's memories of God's acts and of Israel's failures forming the setting for what was said. The counsel was given after Israel sinned by rejecting God's rule and demanding a king for themselves. It calls Israel to fear the Lord and to serve Him sincerely and truthfully with the whole heart, while remembering and considering the great things He has done for them. Grateful attention to those past acts of deliverance and goodness is the ground and reason for wholehearted, faithful service.
Their wrongdoing did not cancel God's invitation to turn back and continue following Him. If the people would follow the Lord, He would not forsake them for the sake of His great name. If instead they continued and persisted in wickedness, destruction would come upon both the people and their king.
The words belong to Samuel's parting address to Israel, delivered at Gilgal after the people welcomed Saul as king, with Gilgal's memories of God's acts and of Israel's failures forming the setting for what was said. The counsel was given after Israel sinned by rejecting God's rule and demanding a king for themselves. It calls Israel to fear the Lord and to serve Him sincerely and truthfully with the whole heart, while remembering and considering the great things He has done for them. Grateful attention to those past acts of deliverance and goodness is the ground and reason for wholehearted, faithful service.
Their wrongdoing did not cancel God's invitation to turn back and continue following Him. If the people would follow the Lord, He would not forsake them for the sake of His great name. If instead they continued and persisted in wickedness, destruction would come upon both the people and their king.