“God is our real Father and we are God’s real children…” What encouraging, faith-building words are those. Luther captured so well the total confidence of true Christian faith. The heart of the Universe is like the heart of a loving parent. God wants good things for us, just as a loving parent wants a good life for his or her children.

But these words are not to be taken as order, that is, as something we have to believe in order to be saved, but rather as an invitation to test the waters, to try out faith, to look and see whether we can indeed discern a loving, guiding, nurturing presence in our lives. For me, such blessed faith is born of hindsight. When I’m going through hard times, I grit my teeth and hope God is helping somehow. Afterward, I look back and marvel: the good that happened, the miraculous caring, the gift this world is.

So we enter into prayer, hoping God will really listen. And then finding out over time God really does. We are indeed beloved children.