Songfacts®:

• James Ingram told Christian Music Today that this song is "a last plea to God for a son who's gone astray." He added: "No matter how much you raised them up for God, it's a plea for him to bring back your son because the streets have him now. Not only does it ask for mercy on your son, but also to have mercy on the parent as they're going through it all."
• Ingram originally wrote this comforting response to tragedy for a play with Debbie Allen. It was initially about seven minutes long. After being asked to sing on the TV program The Gospel of Music, Ingram's wife suggested this song, which the singer cut down to four minutes. Ingram told Christian Music Today that, "we got such a great response, that [Radio One's] Kathy Hughes came to me and said, 'What are you gonna do now?' I asked what she meant, and she said, 'You've got a hit record, so now you need to do an inspirational album!'" Thus this song laid the seeds for Stand in the Light album.