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For the Lord will not forsake his people;

he will not abandon his heritage;

—Psalm 94:14

O Lord, the hope of Israel,

all who forsake you shall be put to shame;

those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth,

for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.

—Jeremiah 17:23

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

—John 8:3-6

“Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.”

—John 16:32

The word "forsake" comes from roots meaning oppose, deny, give up, or renounce. Behind that, one can find the ideas of accuse or blame.

When the scribes and Pharisees dragged the woman before Jesus, there was plenty of blaming, accusation, and opposition. She stood alone and forsaken. Behind that, we learn that the Pharisees and scribes were ready to give up her life in a ploy to oppose and accuse Jesus. So He, like the woman, stood alone.

Unlike her, unknown to her accusers, He had authority in that moment, and He used it. He used it to force them to look at themselves instead of her, to force them to confront their own guilt. To force them to confront the fact that they had forsaken the heart of the Father. They had turned away from Him, who came to bring the water of life.

Was it their names that he wrote on the dust? Did they think of Jeremiah's prophecy?

Whether they did or not, they were put to shame. And they left the woman alone, with Jesus, who refused to condemn her. He knew what it was like to be abandoned. Later, He experienced it in the worst way, in the worst moment.

Jesus did not give up on her.

And when we, like those in the crowd, have to be reminded of our own imperfections and failures, He will not give up on us, so long as we do not give up on Him.

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually!

—Psalm 105:4

Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

—1 Samuel 16:11

And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?”

—2 Samuel 9:1

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

—Jeremiah 29:13

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow...”

“...seek, and you will find...”

—Matthew 6:33-34a, 7:7b

Seeking seems to have a kind of intensity or urgency that goes beyond simply looking for something. A person might look for a parking spot or look for a good pie recipe. But that same person might seek shelter in a storm or seek medical attention after a fall.

Of course, different people use words differently. But even if the examples seem a little picky, we all understand the difference between casually looking and diligently seeking. When we're seeking, the outcome matters, and we're willing to give other things a lower priority or even put them on hold.

Samuel was on a quest to find the next king of Israel. It's interesting that the Lord told Samuel to go to a specific town and family, but didn't tell him which son until David was standing right in front of Samuel. And the outcome was important enough to be worth the wait.

Years later, David's faithfulness to the memory of Jonathan prompted him to seek an opportunity to show kindness. To him it was worth the effort.

In one of Israel's lowest times, Jeremiah delivered the Lord's message of encouragement to a people in exile, people who may have felt disconnected from God. That message anticipated the good news proclaimed by the one who fulfilled all prophecies: “Seek...and you will find.”

There is an intensity about seeking the Lord and His strength and His presence. Because it matters.

Yet, even though it is important and intense, Jesus Himself said that it is not a matter of anxiety. Because He wants to be found.

O Lord, I am your servant;

I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.

You have loosed my bonds.

—Psalm 116:16

“But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”

—Mark 10:43-44

“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

—Luke 15:21-14

As a child, I recall hearing the parable explained in terms of the love and forgiveness of the Father.

A bit later, I heard the parable with an emphasis on the younger son, who had scorned his father, lost himself and his way, and had to hit rock bottom before humbling himself to return home. But he did, and his father welcomed him.

Even later, I heard the parable sadly describing the older son, who harbored resentment at the grace and welcome given to his younger brother. Perhaps he had never really suffered, and so didn't know how good things had been for him all along. Or perhaps he had a little of Jonah in him.

Most recently, I hear the parable populated with more characters. There is the nameless citizen of the “far country” who at least hired him to feed the pigs. There are the indifferent observers of his condition, who saw his devastation but gave him nothing. And there are the servants in the father's house.

The young son, in his shame and humility and repentance was more than willing to be one of them.

And it was the servants to whom the father gave instruction. To clothe him and prepare a feast in his honor and to join in the celebration. And so they did.

Paul, Titus, James, and Jude all introduced themselves in letters as servants of the Lord. Paul commended Phoebe and Epaphras as servants. Jesus Himself took on the form of a servant.

And the Father commanded His servants to welcome and celebrate and rejoice over His returning children.

Hear my cry, O God,

listen to my prayer;

from the end of the earth I call to you

when my heart is faint.

—Psalm 61:1-2a

“And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father.’”

—Genesis 26:5

When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

—1 Samuel 5:1

And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

—1 Samuel 23:14

“I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.”

—2 Samuel 7:6

And being found in human form, [Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

—Philipppians 2:8

The Lord called Abram in Haran to leave his country and family and go to a place he had never seen. Then, in Canaan, He called Abram to “walk through the length and breadth of the land”.

The Lord called Moses from domestic life as a shepherd to go back to Egypt, endure threats and hostility, and then decades of leading grumpy ex-slaves as they wandered in the wilderness.

The Lord was with David in his rise from shepherd to warrier to commander. He directed Samuel to anoint David as king to replace Saul, but then allowed David to be driven into exile from his own land and family by an insanely jealous Saul.

The Lord allowed Israel to be defeated and taken into exile, far from the land promised to Abraham and his descendants.

And yet...

In the middle of all that, He allowed the ark of the covenant, the physical symbol of His nearness to His people, to be taken prisoner and carried to Ashdod. He could have simply dropped them in their tracks and ended the theft on the spot. Instead, the ark went into exile and then was returned.

We know full well that the ark was a representation; it was not the Lord Himself. But there seems to be a foreshadowing here, a kind of physically-acted-out prophecy.

Because, in Bethlehem centuries later, the Lord emptied Himself to take on flesh and blood and be born as a helpless infant. Already in a form of exile from His home, He went on to suffer exile to Egypt, threats and hostility, and finally the worst exile of all. And then He returned.

And then He returned.

Neither Ashdod nor the grave could hold Him.

The Lord Himself endured exile; He can comfort His exiled people.

..and [the Lord] judges the world with righteousness;

he judges the peoples with uprightness.

—Psalm 9:8

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

—Psalm 23:3b

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

—Psalm 68:5

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

—1 Samuel 8:4-5, 18-20

Ashdod is not mentioned by name when the Israelite elders met with Samuel and demanded to have a king. But, as one of the Philistine strongholds, it is certainly implicitly included in their stated desire to “be like all the nations”.

The Lord rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery, demonstrating both His power and His care. And then, after leading them by Moses to the wilderness of Sinai, He began to teach them how to have the right relationships with each other and with Himself. Therefore, from the earliest times in His relationship with Israel as a people and a nation, He had shown that He could fight for them and lead them and teach them justice.

And those were the three reasons that the elders gave Samuel for "needing" a king: justice, leadership, and protection.

They had everything that they needed from the Lord. But what they wanted—and didn't need—was to be like the nations around them and to look to a mere mortal to give them justice, leadership, and protection.

Because they looked in the wrong place, they didn't find what they wanted. And they certainly didn't find what they needed.