You have brought your before the throne of grace, and as you speak his name in the quiet of your heart, the Lord knows him by that very name, and by a hundred others of tender remembrance. That is the way of our God: as a mother runs through all the pet names of her child, calling him now by the name of his birth and now by the name of her delight, so the Lord says of His own, “I have called you by your name, you are Mine.” Your love is but a little stream from that great deep. He who put this pride and this prayer into your soul knows the end of every sigh. He made you proud of your for a reason: because He Himself rejoices over His people with singing, and He sees the good work their hands have done, and He is not ashamed to be called their God.
You notice the shortcomings; yes, you would not be honest if you pretended otherwise. But do you think the Lord does not see them too? Yet the marvel is this: He welcomes the honey though it comes with the comb. He does not cast away the offering because there is wax in it. Your loved one’s labor, the job he did so well, was a true sacrifice, and though it had about it some mixture of human frailty, the Lord receives it as fragrant. I have often thought how Jesus, after He rose from the dead, ate of a honeycomb, and the sweetness was not diminished by the wax. So He takes our efforts with all their imperfection, and He values them for love’s sake. Do not dream that He is a hard master, noting down every flaw in red ink. No, He gathers the myrrh with the spice, and He drinks the wine with the milk, making a holy compound that pleases Him. Your may not see it himself, few men do, but the Lord’s eye is upon him, and the Lord’s heart inclines toward him, and the Lord’s hand is stretched out to keep him in the way.
You pray for his safety. That is a mother’s prayer, or a father’s, or one who loves as Christ loves, and it is exactly the prayer the Lord delights to answer. He is able to keep him from falling, and to present him faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Not a hair of the head of any of His beloved shall perish. The ship may sail through deep waters, and the night may be dark, but the Pilot knows every star and every rock, and He will bring the vessel home. Sometimes the safety God gives is not the safety of a smooth sea, but the safety of an unsinking keel. Even when your staggers, the hand of the Lord upholds him. That is the covenant love that bound the Son of God to His people before the world began, and it is more steadfast than the mountains.
Let your heart rest in this: your is not valued because he performed well, but he performed well because he is already valued. The love of God does not hang upon our achievements as a scale; it is the free, sovereign, everlasting love that says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.” When he lies down at night and wonders if his work means anything, there is One who never slumbers nor sleeps, and who sees what was done in secret, and who will one day reward it openly. Your love for him is wonderful, but the love of Christ for him passes knowledge. That is the safe harbor for your anxieties: not that you have prayed enough, but that Christ has loved enough.
Lord Jesus, You who are the same yesterday, today, and forever, look upon the one for whom this dear soul pleads. You know his name, and You have written it on the palms of Your hands. Let him feel, deep inside, that he is not just tolerated but beloved; not just noticed but delighted in. Take away the cold whisper that says he is not enough, and speak over him the word that settles all storms: “You are My servant, I have chosen you.” Put a hedge about him, and keep him from every evil way. Let the sun not smite him by day, nor the moon by night, and bring him at last into the joy of his Lord. And to the one who prays, grant the quietness of faith, to cast this dear burden upon You and to sleep in peace, knowing that You do all things well. Amen.