“He’s My Son” by Mark Schultz

Down on my knees again tonight
Hoping this prayer will turn out right
See there’s a boy that needs your help
I’ve done all that I can do myself

His mother is tired
I’m sure You can understand
Each night as he sleeps
She goes in and holds his hand
And she tries not to cry
As the tears fill her eyes

Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel alright?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See he’s not just anyone
He’s My Son.

Sometimes late at night
I watch him sleep
I dream of the boy he’d like to be
I try to be strong and see him through
But God who he needs right now is You.

Let him grow old
Live life without this fear
What would I be
Living without him here?
He’s so tired and he’s so scared
Let him know that you’re there

Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel alright?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See he’s not just anyone
He’s My Son.

Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel alright?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See he’s not just anyone

Can You hear me?
Can You see him?

Please don’t leave him
He’s My Son

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Don Robey / George Hollis

Dear God, this song means a lot of complicated things to me. I’ve used it to pray for my own children. Not because they were physically ill, but because my wife and I were equally desperate for them.

As I sit here this morning, I am thinking about the hopes we have for our lives when we are young. “When I grow up I want to _____________________.” Answers can be “get married,” “have children,” “be rich,” “play professional sports,” or even “be an accountant.” Whatever it is, we all have our dreams. But then life gets in the way.

I have a niece who got married 18 months ago. In a letter I wrote her before her wedding, I encouraged her to plan more around facing life’s unexpected hurdles together than making her own plans about how life will turn out. My life, for example, overall has turned out pretty well, but there are clouds that hang over me. There are sorrows. I haven’t experienced the pain the parent in this song is experiencing, but I’ve certainly experienced considerable parental pain. I am still considering pain. I still have what feels like an anchor on me that is directing the way the ship of my life is moving. Yes, my ship might still be moving forward, but that anchor is dragging and impacting the course of my life. And I’ve prayed to you. I’ve prayed like the father in this song. I’ve prayed like Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19:14-19:

¹⁴ After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.

¹⁷ “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. ¹⁸ And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. ¹⁹ Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

And you’ve answered some of my prayers. Okay, you’ve answered all of my prayers, but some of your answers I’ve been able to see. My faith tells me you’ve answered the others as well. And sometimes you’re going to say, “No. No, I cannot answer the prayer the way you want it answered, but you have to trust me that I am doing things beyond what you can see or know.” That’s where the faith of Hebrews 11:1 comes in: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Holy Spirt, Jesus, Father God, please. I lay my heart before you like Hezekiah laid the letter from the Assyrians about before you. It feels hopeless. It is hopeless in my own power. I have no control over anyone or anything. But you can move the heart of Nebuchadezzar and use him for your purposes. You can certainly move my heart to be what you need me to be. You can move others as well. Please work all things for good. I’ve prayed this so many times. Even though I cannot see what you are doing, I pray that your kingdom will come and your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Hezekiah decided to ignore the practices of his father and submit himself to you. I’m sure he had dreams of what his kingdom would be like when he took over. How things would run. How his army would be tough. But his kingdom didn’t work out as he thought. Many of the cities of Judah fell under his watch. He paid a tribute to Assyria to get them to go away, but they didn’t go away. He was left with nothing but you. That’s where I am right now. I’m left with nothing but you. And my desires are very selfish. I’m not praying over an entire country. I’m simply praying over the people who mean the most in the world to me. But maybe that’s just as important to you as well. I guess I’ll end with this: I really do love you.

Thank you for allowing me to pray all of this to you through Jesus,

Amen