My son who is a few months from his second birthday is making great strides lately communicating with words. He is starting to piece together his first sentences. On a recent road trip to visit family, he got lots of practice in one of his favorite bits of communication. Whenever he would see something he recognized (especially animals), he would ask everyone in the car, “See ___________?” It’s especially cute because he likes to use the sound the animal makes rather than the name of the animal so it comes out like, “Daddy, see moo? Momma, see moo? Addy, see moo?”

He would get so excited each time he saw another thing he recognized (moo, neigh, tweet, bus, etc), and it didn’t matter how many times he saw them…it was new every time for him. The thing that struck me most though, is how much he wanted everyone in the car to share in his excitement. He wouldn’t stop asking each of us until we acknowledged what he saw. He wanted so badly to know that we saw what he was seeing and to share in his joy and excitement.

Though it may take different forms as we get older, that is something I don’t think we ever really lose. We desperately want to know that others are seeing and experiencing what WE are seeing and experiencing. We want to know we are not alone. We want to have company in the joys and the pains of this world.

At its core, I believe this feeling extends especially to our maker. I know that I have often asked this same question of God when I’ve had great joy in my life and when I was going through very difficult times; “God…can you see what’s going on here? Are you sharing this with me?”

God knows that we feel this way so He has answered this question even before we asked it many times in His Word and we can go there for reassurance every time we are feeling the way my son felt. One of those places is Isaiah 43 where God tells Jacob (and us);

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:1-3, ESV).

When we are experiencing either the highs or the lows of this life, we can rest assured that the God who made us is right there with us. He sees what we see. He is shouting for joy with you. He is weeping with you. May the knowledge of the presence of our Lord comfort you like our answers in the car comforted my son.

Be a witness,
Nate