God Had a Plan (Infusion 2013)

INFUSION 2013

29 May 2013

At INFUSION, one of the students from Campus Ambassadors in SUNY Oneonta, performed the following poem she had written. Natalie Newton had the audience (including myself) hanging on every word and phrase. You can find her performing it on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSRAh4zlAhA&feature=share. 

GOD HAD A PLAN

God had a plan.
From the foundation

From the beginning

When in his palms

He formed a man.
And that man

Would stand in his image,

Every part of him

Perfectly fitted.

And from the very first minute,
He was called good.

God called him good,

And yet he understood,
What would happen tomorrow

Wasn't going to be good.
He had created his bride

And gave her a ring,

But he already knew

What tomorrow would bring.
His plan was teeming

With the intricate works

Of a creative King.

He already knew the cold winter

He had to take us through

Before we hit spring.
He knew the choice she would make,

The fruit she would take,

That bond that sin would break,
He knew the separation

That would make his heart ache –

The man who would die

For the whole world's sake,

The church that would rise up

And cause evil to shake.
Beloved make no mistake,
He knew all this,

And yet he thought she was great.

He probably even smiled,

Because at least for a little while,

Man was yet to have to be

Reconciled to the creator,

And sin had yet to defile,

The beautiful creature to whom

He found it all worthwhile.
And when that all came to pass,

When man began to stumble

Don't for a minute think

That God's plan crumbled,
Because from the moment

He even thought of man,

He had a plan. 

Not the kind of plan that

You and I make for vacation –

God wanted conversation,

And knew he had to rid us

Of the infection

That gave us isolation,

And all that hindered our restoration.
He knew he'd take

The man in his hands

Through the darkest night,

Through a war that

He knew He had to fight,

The Son he would have to sacrifice.
When he made his plan,

It wasn't bound by perfection,

It was based in affection.
When God planned,

He dreamed of love –

The same love that man

Had become deprived of,
The kind of love that was lifelong,

For the one thing he wanted all along.
He came for our heart,

The part of man that began

To beat from the start,

With the thud thud through every part,

Of our anatomy

And yet feels every emotion –

He came for heart
The same heart

He had in the beginning.
But he gave men this voice –

He wanted them to have a choice,

The option to rejoice, or not
And from the choice yes

On the ballot of salvation

Would come love He couldn't have achieved

By any motion to coerce,

The kind of love that the devil could not reverse,
Because all the while

He teaches us how to love

Perfectly, enormously, wonderfully -
So this plan –

This story He is writing,

As he writes –

As the words etched in His heart hit paper,

Scriptures you hold
Are love letters to your soul,

From the God who wants to make you whole,

To a heart He chose not to control,
He had planned His reply,

To win back the heart of His bride,

With a cross on which He chose to die,

And let her decide,

To love Him for all her life.

So from the beginning

God was planning
And you have a piece in this great story,

That ends with an inheritance

To all the King’s glory.
But I won't lie –

The middle is speckled with pain,

Sure, sin has a habit of creating these chains,

That sprain and strain and stain and wane.

We're all coming from a place

Where sin had domain.
Yes, there was a winter to be had,

A night to suffer to which He'd be glad,

If He could know that pain wasn't to last,

And that all of the struggle

Would be a thing of the past.
But the relationship forged

In the deepest of measures,

Would lead to a blessing

With the greatest of pleasures.
But like a child who reads the last pages first,

To make sure the characters

Make it through the very worst,

In the end of God's plan

We all will be reimbursed. 

The final point I want to make to you,

Is that there is nothing you could ever do,
That could cause God's plan to fall through,
No matter how we trip and fall,

The mistakes we regret

Neither big nor small,

Could ever stall
The plan in store

God has for us all.
Because from the beginning,

What he could see,

Was the story

He'd write about you and about me,
When man ran away and decided to retreat,

He was thinking of you –

And He was thinking of me,
When he started to pick up all of the debris,

He was thinking of you –

And he was thinking of me.
When he was hanging on a tree –

All he could see was you – and me.
So the God of the universe has sent out His invitation
He's already given us His presentation
Bride are you ready to take part in the celebration?

Natalie Newton