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Faith
Scripture: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight” (Proverbs 3:5 NRSV).
As a very young boy I would go to church with my father to hear him preach. One Sunday I heard him preach a sermon on faith. I remember him speaking about our home and playing with me one the evening when I was three or four years of age. My favorite game was “Hide and Seek.” My father usually ran all the way to the “back room” of the house while I tried to follow him. The lights were off, making the room very dark, while he hid in a corner. I stood at the door, unable to see him, maybe a little frightened to enter the dark room. I said, “Papa! Papa! Yo se que usted esta adentro.” (Daddy! Daddy! I know that you are in there. I’m not frightened.” I then slowly walked around the room, my arms extended in “faith” until I found him. Then I said, “I couldn’t see you, Papa, but I knew you were in here.” My father hugged me very tightly and said, “I love you, son.”
Throughout the years, at the lowest points in my life, my father’s words have come back to me. He told the congregation that evening that just as I could not see my earthly father in the room, I found him by having faith and reaching out for him. It’s the same with our heavenly Father. Everyone can find God in the darkness of our world if we only reach out in faith. If we do this, God will find us and wrap arms of love around us, just like my father did.
I’ve lived long enough to know that sometimes we must lay everything on the neck of “faith” and commit our leading to God. No matter how things might look in life, the comforting words, “I will never leave or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NRSV) have sustained my faith. I’m thankful for the lesson my father taught me–in all experiences, the only thing to do is to trust in God and walk by faith, not by sight.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to put our faith and trust in you in all we do, believing that whatever we ask for in prayer with faith, we will receive. Amen.
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Richard Salcedo
Director of Business Administration
American Baptist Churches of the Rocky Mountains
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