1 Samuel 4-6

It took about 10 minutes to read this passage. There are two truths I saw in this story about God's nature. The first was in chapter 4 when Israel took the ark of the covenant to the battle line. They didn't ask God if they could do that, they presumed their will upon God. The lesson is this; you can't "take" God where he doesn't want to go. He will reject our efforts, and our plans will end in failure. The second lesson was revealed to the Philistine people: you can't "keep" God where he doesn't want to be. Sometimes we Christians want to keep God in the church. But Jesus died for all people, so he won't stay there. He'll keep after us until we take him out where he wants, and needs, to be.
Stuart