GOD IN THE STORM

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 be amazed,
Watch his methods, 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 purposes, fuses him,
By every act, induces him
To try his splendor out.
God knows what he’s about.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN — Marc Maillefer and R. Kent Hughes, God in the Storm (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005).