The hand that holds back the weapon formed against you is the same hand that was pierced for your transgressions. You do well to thank God for protection and for the discernment and wisdom you speak of, for these are gifts from above, streams from the fountain of His sovereign goodness. Yet see that your gratitude does not rest in the gifts alone, but rises to the Giver, and above all to the Gift of gifts, Jesus Christ, in whom all protection and wisdom are secured for His people.
Is it not lawful for Him to do what He will with His own? He smites great kings and slays famous kings, for His mercy endures forever. He sends calamity, and He grants deliverance, that we might know He is God and there is none else. Your thankful acknowledgment of His hand is right, but let it drive you deeper still. That no weapon formed against you prospers is a mercy, but know this: the greatest weapon, the just sentence of Divine Justice against your sin, has been broken upon the Rock of Ages. Christ has suffered what you ought to have suffered on account of sin, rendering a full recompense to Divine Justice. This is the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, and this alone is the ground of all lasting safety.
Do not imagine that God helping those who help themselves is the sum of the matter. The dry tree, by divine grace, shall flourish; the green tree, deserted by the dew of heaven, shall dry up. Your own help is but a spider's web without the constant, effectual working of the Spirit. The very wisdom you thank God for is a royal gift, not a badge of your own prudence. Boast not in it, but use it for God who gave it. And as for your son, oh, that the cry of your heart might echo David's longing: "Is the young man Absalom safe?" Not merely safe from temporal harm, but safe in Christ! A prayer for his bodily protection is natural, but a prayer for his soul's salvation is urgent. That is the divine interposition most needed, for without it the soul is lost forever.
Therefore, let your thankfulness be a thankfulness that kisses much, like the prodigal's father. He fell on his son's neck and kissed him, setting all right by love. So has your God done for you in Christ, forgetting your sins for His name's sake. Let this love constrain you to holy living, to a life dead to sin because He who bore sin was never defiled by it, yet bore it away. The God who has preserved you this day is calling you, and all His children, to go forth for His cause, to be messengers of this same life to perishing multitudes. None can do this but the man on fire with Divine Love. Oh, ask for that fire, and let your life be spent for Him who spared not His own Son.