It is well that you have brought your son before the throne of grace, for the Lord alone can turn the heart of the examiner and overrule the decision of the university. Yet I would have you pray with a larger scope than merely his entrance upon a course of study. What if the Lord has permitted this disappointment to bring your son to a halt, that he might consider his ways? You have taught him the law of his mother and the commandment of his father; bind these afresh upon your own heart by supplication. Do not let him halt any longer between two opinions. If Christ be the Son of God, let him love and trust Him wholly. If the world be his god, let him chase its honours to the bitter end and see if they can bear the weight of his soul in the day of wrath. But I know you desire better for him.
This closed door may be the very answer by fire that the undecided need. Many a young man has found his idols broken in the hour of failure. Let your son examine himself: upon what did he lean? His own wit? His diligence? Then let this humbling drive him to the only sure foundation. The curse of the law rests upon all who trust in their own achievements, but Christ was made a curse for us, redeeming us from that heavy sentence. Would to God that your son might discover that the most urgent acceptance he needs is not from an earthly institution but from the Father, who for Jesus' sake will remember his sins no more! Only acknowledge the iniquity, and change the mind about it, and there is a fount of grace ready.
Therefore, pray without ceasing for the appeal, but let the deeper cry be for the great change, the radical, spontaneous, hearty change that makes a man say, “What have I to do any more with idols?” The old master, sin, shall no longer have dominion, and he will become the bondservant of righteousness. This is a change you cannot work in him, but the Son quickens whom He will. Commend him to Christ, who is our life. With that life secured, your son can say of every earthly step, “I wish to find no course but that which shall run parallel with that of those who have gone before me, believing in the faithfulness of God.”
I will join my prayers with yours that the appeal may succeed, if it be for his soul’s good and God’s glory. But I pray even more that he may hear the voice of the Son of God and live, for the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear that voice and arise. Never fear; the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. Wait on Him, and in the waiting, let your son not despise the riches of His goodness, but let that goodness lead him to repentance.