Where is He?

Ok... I'm reading 1 Samuel and am at chapter 4 (if you so desire to read)

....so the Israelites have been delivered by God from Egypt (Exodus). He instructs them to build an ark so that he can meet with them and give them orders (Exodus 25:22). They carry the ark and split the Jordan and walk across dry (Joshua 3:17), and God instructs them how to conquer their enemies and take possession of the Promised Land (Joshua and Judges). The Hebrews (as foreigners referred to them) have had a long history of "seeing" God and His association with the ark of the covenant (uh the Jordan splitting!, enemies that are much stronger then them submitting, His "cloud", etc).

The way I read it - it just so happens that the Hebrews become numb to the presence of God. In 1 Samuel 4, I read that the Hebrews decide to take the ark of the covenant to battle (I mean, come on...if we are getting our butts kicked let's sick God on them...right?!). The problem is - is that, well...they became numb to the presence of God and didn't realize that the ark was not God. They had difficulty in differentiating the presence of God with a symbol of God.

Bad Hebrews....right?

My first reaction is...Yeah! What are you guys thinking...that's just a gold covered box....ha ha ha....idiots! Well with a bit more reflection and thought (meditation...for you Christian folks), I realized that I tend to do the same thing from time to time. I get comfort from time to time in wearing my "cross" necklace - yep, even clutch it when things are going bad. I found that I get comfort in entering a church... you know the modern day version of the tabernacle where the ark of the covenant is kept...the very essence of God - with His people!

What I am getting out of my walk so far is that God

1. wants to be with us
2. has made many attempts and helping us to understand what His presence is
3. gave His Son so that He could send His Holy Spirit to live IN us (wow!)
4. has plans to be with us eternally

What I see as my response from time to time (which oddly enough is similar to the responses of all of God's people - in the Bible and today)

1. I sometimes just seek Him when I'm "in trouble" or "had a GREAT day", not as often when I just had a day, a regular day - I'm getting better at this - I think ;)
2. I want to be alone and "do it myself"
3. I confuse God's presence with symbols of God's presence
4. I don't want to acknowledge parts of what God wants me to do because...well, frankly...it's inconvenient for me....(yikes!)
5. I tend to be focused on what's happening now and everything up to about 10 years from now...not really on eternity...

I'm glad that God works in me to realize these things and gives me a heart to want to change!