"When God Wants a Man"

A highly inspirational poem with a great deal of truth to it. (I have changed “Nature” to God.)

When God wants to drill a man
And thrill a man,
And skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall praise--

Watch His method, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which only God understands--

While his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands!--
How He bends, but never breaks,
When his good He undertakes....
How He uses whom He chooses
And with every purpose fuses him,
By every art induces him
To try his splendor out--
God knows what He's about.

When God wants to take a man
And shake a man
And wake a man;
When God wants to make a man
To do the Father’s will;
When He tries with all His skill
And He yearns with all His soul
To create him large and whole....
With what cunning He prepares him!

How He goads and never spares him,
How He whets him and He frets him
And in poverty begets him....
How He often disappoints
Whom He sacredly anoints,
With what wisdom He will hide him,
Never minding what betide him
Though his genius sob with slighting and his pride may not forget!
Bids him struggle harder yet.
Makes him lonely
So that only
God's high messages shall reach him
So that He may surely teach him
What the Hierarchy planned.

Though he may not understand
Gives him passions to command--
How remorselessly He spurs him,
With terrific ardor stirs him
When He poignantly prefers him!

When God wants to name a man
And fame a man
And tame a man;
When God wants to shame a man
To do his heavenly best....
When He tries the highest test
That His reckoning may bring--
When He wants a god or king!--
How He reins him and restrains him
So his body scarce contains him
While He fires him
And inspires him!
Keeps him yearning, ever burning for a tantalizing goal--
Lures and lacerates his soul.
Sets a challenge for his spirit,
Draws it higher when he's near it--
Makes a jungle, that he clear it;
Makes a desert, that he fear it
And subdue it if he can--
So doth God make a man.

Then, to test his spirit's wrath
Hurls a mountain in his path--
Puts a bitter choice before him
And relentless stands o'er him.
"Climb, or perish!" so He says....
Watch His purpose, watch His ways!

God's plan is wondrous kind
Could we understand His mind ...
Fools are they who call Him blind.
When his feet are torn and bleeding
Yet his spirit mounts unheeding,
All his higher powers speeding
Blazing newer paths and fine;
When the force that is divine
Leaps to challenge every failure and his ardor still is sweet
And love and hope are burning in the presence of defeat....

Lo, the crisis! Lo, the shout
That must call the leader out.
When the people need salvation
Doth he come to lead the nation....
Then doth God show His plan
When the world has found--a man!

Angela Morgan