Always looking to expand, the city of Rome conquered the neighboring city Veii in 396 B. C. One spoil that the victors took home was the statue of Veii’s goddess, Juno, queen of the gods. Legend says a soldier asked the statue, “Juno, do you want to go to Rome?” and the statue nodded “Yes.” (Anthony Everitt, “The Rise of Rome,” 124)
Ancient Israel imagined they had God in a box, so they brought the Ark of the Covenant into battle. God let Israel be defeated and the Ark captured. “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.” (1 Samuel 4:22) Unlike Juno, God wasn’t happy being a spoil of war. He so troubled the Philistines that they sent the Ark back to Israel. (1 Samuel 4-6)
Today? God lets people do what they want, but only to a point (Romans 1:26). Our desires apart from God’s teaching eventually lead to all sorts of trouble, temporal and eternal. So if things seem OK in your life but you’re not monitoring yourself with God’s Word, the God you imagine you’ve got is biding His time. Best to do His will now. “Not my will but Thine be done.” (Luke 22:42)
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