How can I believe in God when I can't see Him

Hey, Dad, how can I believe in God when I can't see, touch, or feel Him?

That's a question my son asked me as we were talking. It's a big question, especially when there are so many people who doubt the necessity of a relationship with God.

Here's how I tried to explain it:

Think about this—earlier today, I gave you my debit card to buy your favorite snacks from the store. You took the card, went to the store, got your snacks, and came back home, right? Now, when I handed you that card, did you worry about whether it would work? Did you think maybe there was no money on it?

"No," he said.

Exactly! You trusted the card would work because you know I gave it to you. It's kind of like how we trust in God and what the Bible tells us. We might not see God directly, but we see what He does in our lives, just like you saw the card let you buy snacks.

Then I asked him another thing. "When you get water from our kitchen tap, do you ever worry if it's clean or not? Did you check the water yourself, or see how it's cleaned at the city's water plant?"

"No," he answered again.

"You just believe it’s clean because the people in charge say so, and it always has been, right? Well, believing in God is a bit like that. Sometimes we trust in what we’re told by others, even if we can’t see everything for ourselves."

Now, knowing he loves space stuff, I threw in another example. "Have you ever been to space or seen other planets like Uranus with your own eyes?"

"Nope," he said, laughing a bit.

"But you still believe they're out there because of all the things you've read and learned in books and on TV. So why should God be any different? Just because we can't see Him doesn’t mean He isn’t there. Just like you believe in planets and stars you’ve never seen."

I finished by telling him, "Lots of people might question and doubt, but that doesn’t have to shake what you believe. Your faith in God is as real and strong as anything else you believe in, even space!"

So, that's how we chatted about it. Faith might seem like a tricky thing, but when you think about it, we use faith every day, even for little things like buying snacks or drinking water.