Let mercy and truth protect (a mother’s prayer)

It was in his first year at Bethel as an incoming junior that I was invited to blog for the college, alongside professors and students. This is a letter I wrote for the Bethel College online magazine. As he prepares to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, it still remains my prayer for him, this, my eldest son:

Dear son,

What a year it’s been for you. For the first time, you moved away, taking with you vast amounts of laundry (was that an echo I heard in the laundry room?), and walking into a new era of independence.

What excited me about the whole deal was hearing about your classes. As an incoming junior and transfer student, you were finally getting to the heart of your major. No longer was it just freshman English and speech. Now, you were using words like “Crisis Intervention” and “Social Psychology” and “Research Methods,” courses specifically geared toward your chosen career.

Not only were you learning the technical and practical aspects of psychology, you were absorbing Biblical truths in spades from professors like Dr. Bob, that firebrand in your first-semester class, “Exploring the Christian Faith.” Then there was chapel where you heard so many compelling speakers. In fact, I’d pray sometimes on chapel days (did you know this?) that the Holy Spirit would anoint the heart, mind, and lips of the one who’d be speaking that day.

So much truth you’ve been given. So much freedom you’ve had. So many choices you’ve faced.

Pop culture – and I think you know this – strongly opposes our Judeo-Christian beliefs. Such evil is arrayed against your generation. You are being bombarded with messages and images designed to draw you away from your first love. Some of these are overt, and some are far more subtle, camouflaged with just a bit of truth. It’s the latter that makes me tremble.

Satan, God’s Word says, “is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” He’s after you, son. He’s after your entire generation. And make no mistake – he will use any means at his disposal to take you down, take you out.

Mercy. Truth. Hand in hand, these words have been simmering, percolating within me for the last few months.

“Let not mercy and truth forsake you,” the writer of Proverbs said. “Bind them about your neck. Write them upon the tablet of your heart.”

And there it is, son. That’s how you walk safely in a dark and dangerous age. Tie the mercy and eternal truth of the Lord Christ about your neck. Inhale them. Drink them in. Feed on them until ‘til they are rooted and established in your inmost being and there, grow ever stronger.

For my part, I’ve been praying that His mercy and truth would protect you. When you fail (and you will), I pray mercy to cover. And when deceptive and worldly philosophies assail, I pray that Truth will reveal, that Truth will out, coming swiftly to your aid.

I’m believing the Father for these, son, and speak to Him ever and always on your behalf. Walk well.

With love,

Mom