Those who do not worship the Lord simply reject the
idea of being submitted to Him
I have analyzed in my life, that deep down in the souls of those who do not worship the Lord there is aversion at the thought that he is the one who governs his way, not theirs; aversion that his will is absolute, and doesn't allow them to be influent factors is His decisions.
There are those who totally reject the control of God, but the majority does not aspire to much, they only want to have means to influence or pressure God's decisions. It's the classic democracy of the "constituents crooked leaders" who aspire to have their conveniences, interests, caprices, "ego", etc., have to be taken into consideration by the one who rules.
That's why in false religions, and in the false conceptions of the true religion, you always see "works", for example, candles, masses, gifts to the church, etc., like factors to their salvation, or factors on heavenly favors difficult to attain. This is more notably seen in the Roman Catholic Church, because it is the most known; but the Russell's followers do the same with the "points" they gain with their preaching from door to door and thousands of other things. Analyze false religions and the false conceptions of the true religion, and you'll see that all of them, deep down, have that tendency.
In the case of the Philistines, which serve, as a base for this matter, their aversion towards God is clear. They were scared by how powerful they saw he was; but they detested Him. In the passage that appears below, there's a confession on their part, in the sense that even their Gods seemed submitted to the power of God. However, not even if convenient would they pass God's side, that was the level of their antipathy.
"8 Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 9 Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. (I Sam 4:8-9)
The
opposite occurred with the Israelites. They were on God's side, to which they
had proof and testimony that he was powerful, but they would abandon Him and
would give themselves to idolatry. That's why we see in the Bible, by way of
the books of Judges, Kings, and Chronicles the apostasy of the Israelites, but
never do we see the people of
"10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. 11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." (Jer 2:10-11)
The idolatry based religions, and the other false religions, always have in their structure the factor that is desired by rebellious creatures: being able to have the power to influence or to pressure His divine decisions.