Dear Isaiah,
It has been a year and a half since COVID-19 started escalating in the U.S. I don’t think any of us thought we would still be in a pandemic. Facemasks have become a part of our daily wardrobe and hand sanitizing has become embedded in our routine.
The other day I took you to a store to look for a gift for NyeNye’s birthday. You immediately spotted a bright yellow object out of the corner of your eye. It was a plush excavator costume, with a scoop in the front and plush wheels and everything. You immediately grabbed it, brought it into your shopping cart seat, and held onto it tightly with both arms, your eyes beaming with joy.
I instructed you hesitantly: “Isaiah, you can hold it right now, but we don’t know if we are going to take it home, okay? You can hold it while mommy shops.” I still needed to check the price tag, weigh the pros and cons of purchasing this thing, and was pretty sure I wasn’t going to go home with it.
Well, we browsed the entire store, and you happily continued to hold onto the excavator the entire time while I pushed you around in the cart. It was great.. until it was time to go.
“Isaiah..” I started, “It’s time to go home. Let’s put the excavator back now, ok?” Your eyes immediately grew dim. Your forehead started to furrow. And then suddenly, squishy toddler arms squeezing the costume against your chest, you screamed, “I NEED IT! I NEED IT!” And then the tears. And then again, “I NEED IT! I NEED IT!”
Well, I have never heard you use this phrase before. I have no idea where you learned this. But one thing was certain: Even in your little two and a half year old heart, you thought with all of your might that you absolutely needed this excavator. It was both hilarious and tragic to witness, and I was taken aback by just how heartbroken you appeared to be.
Son, this moment made me pause and examine my own heart: what is it that I think I need? What have I been holding onto tightly during this season? When stretched to my limit this past season, when faced with new anxieties and uncertainties, what have I decided I cannot live without?
Dear son, in the trying seasons of our lives, we are so tempted to find our needs met in so many places—in convenient places that maybe give us immediate but temporary relief. But God, our Heavenly Father, has given to us something that we truly need, and that really does give us life.
Our all-knowing Father who has sovereignly planned every single one of our days and who knows the depths of our human hearts, has given us His Word as our sustenance. In Luke 10:38-41, Jesus tells an anxious and troubled Martha that only one thing is needed. He was referring to the actions of Martha’s sister, Mary, who liked to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him speak words of life.
Son, we, too, have been given the one thing that we need. We get to sit at the feet of Jesus. And we do this, today, by reading His precious Word that He has given to us.
His Word restores us, fills us, and grants us true satisfaction, true contentment. Psalm 107, verse 9 says, “He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things.” His Word guides us, keeps us from going to lesser things, things that ultimately don’t give us peace or everlasting life. His Word is distinct from any other source out there. There is nothing as perfect, as sure, as reviving, as secure.
Isaiah, why go elsewhere? We need God’s Word because God knows we are so prone to find our needs met in other things. Our hearts are fickle and prone to wander. Scripture offers us an almighty, good, and gracious Heavenly Father who sent His son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins so that we can have a relationship with Him!
This truth bathes our parched and weary souls that have tried to find refuge elsewhere, and reminds us of the well of life that He has provided for His children. He hasn’t left us to navigate life alone. He has revealed Himself to us in His Word and He beckons us to know Him. He invites us to taste and see that He is good through the precious promises found in His Word.
I feel like the last two years have really stripped all of us of so many things, revealing to us what truly matters to us in this life. During this pandemic, the valleys showed me how quickly I want to turn to other sources for hope. And the peaks showed me just how much better it is to sit at the feet of my Savior and trust in the promises He has given to me in His Word.
I’ve learned my only hope is in Him.
Isaiah, that day in the store, when you looked at me with your desperate and frustrated eyes, tears welling, face turning red, so much of my heart wanted to give you what you wanted. And yet, there was something you didn’t know. When I told you to put the costume back, I had already hatched a plan: I was going to make you one. A better one. A bigger one. One that yes, saved me money, but more importantly, one that I knew you would enjoy even more.
I needed you to trust me—to know that I love you so much that I had something even better planned for you.
Our Heavenly Father loves us. More than I love you, Isaiah. And He knows the deepest longing of our hearts, He knows the weariness we have endured. He knows the pain and the loneliness and the late nights we’ve stayed up tossing and turning with anxious hearts. And He has provided for us by giving us the gift of His Word. His Word is the very thing we truly need. For His Word is what leads us to knowing whom it is that we truly need. And He also gave us brothers and sisters, the church body.
So, I encourage you, son, study God’s Word. And study God’s word together with others who can encourage you and point you to that which is perfect and that which can quench your soul’s thirst. Other things will vie for your attention. For your heart. And we will want that first thing that comes to mind—whether it be a yellow excavator or something else that will momentarily make us happy. But God has given us something that no other person or thing can supply. Find your rest there, and share it with others.
I pray, son, that by the time you can actually read this, the pandemic is long gone. I pray that it is a distant memory and that you are able to gather with loved ones freely, without the fear of death or disease. I cannot guarantee that kind of future. But what I can guarantee is that God’s Word can and will sustain you. And in it, God talks about a home, one that is bigger and better than this one. It will be one that surpasses all of your wildest imaginations and dreams. And He is preparing a place for me, and for you, if you trust in Him.
I love you, Isaiah. Now how about we go play in that cardboard excavator?
[7] The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
[8] the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
[9] the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
[10] More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
[11] Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
(Psalm 19:7–11 ESV)