Even when a man has prepared himself and done all that duty requires, it is the Lord alone who grants success. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is not a mere word for the saving of the soul, but it overflows into all the details of our daily lives. For your son who has twice stumbled at this same hurdle, I would have you see that his repeated failure has made him feel his need of grace. This is well, for grace comes where there is the greatest need of it. No sick soul is ever carried away from His feet to perish hopelessly because the need outreaches His power. The Son of God, in no solitary instance, has been foiled. Let your son go to the throne of grace, confessing his anxiety as sin, his frustration as unbelief, and his fear as a want of trust in the God who has already provided for him in Christ. When we are brought low, we are in the very spot where the rain of mercy loves to fall.
It is God who gives grace and God who, in a Divinely gracious way, has given His only-begotten and well-beloved Son to be the channel through which grace can come down to guilty men. That same channel is open for every temporal mercy. If he needs a license for his employment, is it not a real need? And does not the Father know our needs before we ask? The evil is when we would force mercy from God, as if we must wring it out of an unwilling hand. But grace is freely given, without persuasion. The fountain of Divine Love pours forth its streams at all seasons without pressure. Let your son go not as a demander but as a receiver, standing empty-handed before the Giver of every good gift.
Remember, if the grace of God prevents an affliction from driving us into sin, then Satan is defeated. The enemy cares not what a man suffers, so long as he can hope to make him sin. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. The repeated disappointment can breed murmuring; guard against this. In acts of mourning we need not sin. It is no transgression to weep over a thwarted hope, but to charge God foolishly would be a grievous error. Instead, let this third attempt be a sacrifice of trust. Tell your son to say, “I am vile and full of weakness; without His help I can do nothing. But He is gracious, and His strength is made perfect in my weakness.”
He who has most grace is most conscious of his need of more grace. I do not merely pray that he passes his exam, though that is the matter at hand. I pray that he may learn that all of life’s successes are of grace from first to last, lest he imagine his own hand has gotten them. Whether he receives his license tomorrow or must wait longer, the Lord has a gracious purpose that is working for his eternal good. The providence that delays is as full of love as the providence that bestows. Grace commences to save, and it perseveres till all is done. I will lift up his name before the Mercy Seat, asking that he be granted calmness of mind and clarity of thought, but above all, that he might see the hand of Jesus in every circumstance and find his chief joy not in a driver’s license but in the matchless grace of God in Christ. May the Lord be with him on the morrow, and may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep his heart and mind.
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