What happened to the Ark???

As soon as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.”
So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
(1 Samuel 4:5-11 ESV)
When I was younger, I was talking to a man about Biblical faith, and he had a hang-up on the ark. He wanted to know what ever happened to the ark of the covenant so prominent in Old Testament history. Here the people of Israel must have been asking the same thing: "What happened? This time we remembered to bring the ark with us to the battle, and not only did we lose the battle, we lost the ark."  This was indeed a very low point for Israel. They were losing battles, losing territory, and even more importantly, losing their faith.  But their faith was misplaced.  The ark was not to be the place of their faith, but everything about it that represented God: His commandments, His presence, His rule and reign from His throne, His provision, and His guidance.  They thought they could be victorious without all of these - without Him. So the real question is not "What happened to the ark?" The real question is "What has happened to our obedience to, our dependence on, and our trust in Him?" He is the only way to victorious living.