Let us play a game. Read the following excerpt and try to pinpoint the author.
“My mother, as I have heard from many, was a pious, experienced, Christian…She had a weak constitution and a shy disposition. I was her only child. Almost her whole employment was taking care of my education. I have some faint memories of her care and instructions. When I was not more than three years of age, she taught me English. When I was four years old I could read properly from any common book. She stored my memory, which was very retentive, with many valuable pieces, chapters, and portions of Scripture, catechisms, hymns, and poems.
At that time I had little inclination to the noisy sports of children, but was pleased the most when I was in my mother’s company, and I was always willing to learn as she was to teach. How far the best education may fall short of reaching the heart will strongly appear in the sequel. Yet I think, for the encouragement of godly parents to go in the good way of doing their part faithfully, I may properly offer myself as an example. Though in process of time I sinned away all the advantages of these early impressions, yet they were for a great while a restraint upon me, They returned again and again, and it was very long before I could wholly shake them off. When the Lord at length opened my eyes, I found a great benefit from the recollection of them. My dear mother, besides the pains she took with me, often commended me with many prayers and tears to God.
My mother observed my early progress with peculiar pleasure, and intended from the first to bring me up with a view to the ministry, if the Lord should so incline my heart. In my sixth year I began to learn Latin. But before I had time to know much about it, the intended purpose of my education was broken. The Lord’s designs were far beyond the views of an earthly parent. He was pleased to reserve me for an unusual proof of His patience, providence, and grace. He therefore overruled the purpose of my friends, by depriving me of my mother when I was under seven years old. I was born July 24, 1725, and she died July 11, 1732.”1
Did you guess correctly? If so, you answered: John Newton.
The above excerpt from Newton’s Out of the Depths recalls his fondest reflections of his mother’s (Elizabeth) care throughout several of his tender years, not to mention her unremitting devotion to the Lord. Not alive to observe her son’s ungodly voyage throughout young adulthood, she undoubtedly would concur with his claim of the Lord’s design to use him as “an unusual proof of His patience, providence, and grace."2 Having known emotional and physical abuse from various sources, as well as severe hunger, sickness, and thoughts of suicide, he confirmed, “the Lord was pleased to display His providence and care by causing many unexpected circumstances.”3 Of the Lord’s patience and grace, Newton recalled a time in which he “not only sinned with a high hand [himself], but made it his purpose to attempt and seduce others upon every occasion.”4 Still yet Newton asserted, “Let me not fail to praise that grace which could pardon, that blood which could expiate, such sins as mine” and “I was a willing slave of every evil…[but] I have been spared, saved, and changed to stand as a monument of [God’s] almighty power forever.”5
Where is all this going?
Mother’s Day is almost here and is appropriately an occasion to remember the innumerable ways in which the Lord has used mothers to enrich our lives. But it is also a difficult day for many mothers, for reasons somewhat unnecessary to rehearse and painful to articulate in full detail. Unlike Elizabeth Newton, some mothers reading this have observed or are observing a dear child drift away from faithful biblical instruction and the transformation it points to. Others have yet to notice any interest in spiritual realities. If this is where you find yourself this Mother’s Day, be comforted and encouraged by these truths:
1. GOD IS STILL PATIENT.
2 Peter 3:8-9 (emphasis added) - But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.6
Christ will soon return and justice will be rendered, but until then the Lord is drawing His elect unto Himself. As long as your child is graced with breath, there is reason to pray for his or her repentance and faith. As long as the Lord keeps your heart beating, there is reason to winsomely proclaim the gospel to your erring child. God’s patience should increase your hope. The door of repentance is not yet closed.
2. GOD IS STILL PROVIDENTIAL.
Ephesians 1:11 (emphasis added) - In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
One helpful document articulates God’s providence in this way:
“We believe that God upholds and governs all things—from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons—all in accord with his eternal, all-wise purposes to glorify Himself, yet in such a way that He never sins, nor ever condemns a person unjustly; but that his ordaining and governing all things is compatible with the moral accountability of all persons created in His image.”7
John Newton treasured God’s providence, as he recognized God had ordained an orchestra of events and circumstances to direct his steps toward humility and utter dependence on the Lord. It could be that your erring child is traversing turbulent waters. The waves of consequences are proving seemingly impossible to sail through. Could it be that God has designed to use your child as an “unusual proof of His…providence?”8
Be hopeful in praying that God would use your dear one’s hardships not to advance despair but rather generate conviction that leads to repentance. In hope, view your child’s circumstances as road signs leading them to the rest only found in Jesus. The Lord ultimately knows the outcome of all things, including the outcome of your child’s life. And He will be proven good and worthy of glory in every detail. But do not for a moment think a single second passes without God’s active counsel at play. Pray earnestly that God would supply any and all circumstances necessary to awaken your child to his or her eternal quandary. Pray with great expectation for your child to one day recite, as did Newton, “I have been spared, saved, and changed to stand as a monument of [God’s] almighty power forever.”9
3. GOD IS STILL GRACIOUS.
Romans 5:15 - But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
God’s grace toward sinners does not fade over time. It does not expire, corrode, or become an artifact of antiquity. Ephesians 1:7 still rings true for all who believe: In [Christ] we have redemption though his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. As God is patient, He is also gracious. Every day your erring child exists is a banner of God’s grace. Never fail to thank Him for making it rain on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45). Refuse any thought that tempts you to believe your child has done something so treacherous that God’s grace could never richly forgive. Instead, think rightly about God’s grace—that Jesus indeed “came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). In hope, reverently and prayerfully expect God’s grace to be poured out on your loved one. Today just might be the day they are delivered from darkness and ushered into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
Be hopeful this Mother’s Day, trusting in God’s goodness and delighting in His ineffable character. Like John Newton, I too write these things as a once-erring child who now longs to commune more and more with his gracious King. Be hopeful. Our God is the God of hope (Romans 15:13).
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