Chapter 1 – Foolish Wisdom
Micah is one of the few God-fearing
men in his village and everyone knows him. He wears a cross necklace and works
at the village church as a groundskeeper. Sometimes, he’ll stop what he’s doing
to say a prayer to ask God for help even if he’s outside where everyone can see
him. People think he is foolish for clinging to a faith that doesn’t enrich him
nor is the popular belief. Even so, he does have admirers that leave him
alone and think that he is a good honest man who just wants to live a simple life
with simple beliefs.
“Please let them see that all my
hard work is worth it,” Micah prays.
Some people overhear his prayer and
are curious to see if it is answered. During the next day, a heavy rainstorm
comes and completely wrecks the garden that circles the church and damages the
building. The storm doesn’t stop until the middle of the afternoon allowing everyone
to come outside and see what happened.
“He prayed and this is how he was
answered. Years of hard work are gone in an instant and months of hard work are
given instead,” one person who sees the mess says.
“What did you expect? Micah threw trash
against the church years ago and made a similar mess back then. He’s gotten
what he deserves,” another responds.
Despite the mess, Micah swallows
his anger and gets to work cleaning it up and doesn’t get done until twelve at
night. His critics that live nearby stay up to see if Micah will curse God or finally
quit his job.
Again, he prays in public, “You
treat your servants well and everything you give and do to them is a gift. I
see now that you have done this to me so that my penance for my past is done
and I appreciate it more than anything.”
Amazed at what they heard, Micah’s
critics wonder if he is stubbornly foolish or actually thankful and improved
somehow by what happened. Over the next couple of days, Micah’s strength begins
to fail him as his work and the weather gets to him and makes him sick.
“This church that is a house of
praise for You is damaged and in need of serious repair. Please, give me the
strength to finish the work you have given me so that Your will may be done on earth
as it is in Heaven,” Micah prays.
The next three days pass and Micah’s
condition worsens to the point where he must stay home to rest. During his
rest, few of the parishioners try to pick up where he left off, however, they
aren’t able to do too good of a job since they can’t dedicate as much time to
the care of the church as Micah can and the destruction of the church seems to
be an inevitability, especially since the weather is getting worse again.
“Lord, do not let your church fall.
I offer up my suffering in reparations for my sins, the sins of everyone in
town, and for whatever other purposes you can use it,” Micah prays
before coughing. “If it is my time to retire, then let it be and have someone
take my place. If you want me to rise from my bed and work on your church till I
die from exhaustion, then let it be. I give my life willingly.”
Those who hear Micah’s prayers were
going to mock him, but after hearing these prayers they decide to wait and see
what happens. A minute hardly passes until the church collapses and they laugh harder
than they ever have before.
“What a joke! This guy’s prayers
seem to do more harm than good,” one person says as they talk among themselves.
“As if prayer ever did those
religious folk any good anyway.”
“Well, I say good riddance for our
sake and theirs.”
Micah’s condition worsens the next
day. The few parishioners at the church move away from the village or lose
their faith while the only priest retires and dies the same day. Meanwhile, no one close to Micah can help him, and those who want to are sick
like he is. He lays down on his bed half starved to death and thirsting not
only for drink but answers.
With a dried voice, he prays, “Are
you there? Have you heard any of my prayers? Were you there at all? I prayed
once for my family’s conversion, but they cursed Your name till their deaths,
so they probably weren’t saved. Even my faithful religious friends turned on
You after tragedy struck and left them to a slow and painful end. Now more of
Your faithful are leaving. Was this part of Your plan? Was this part of some
sick joke to give us hope and to show us that there is none? Are we all
forsaken? Answer me this once, if I may deserve at least one answer.”
A calming cold darkness overcomes
Micah. In this darkness, he feels what feels like death overcoming him,
however, this feeling then becomes closer to the feeling he had when he first
embraced the faith.
“Micah,” a familiar yet strange
voice says.
“Is that you, Lord?”
“Hold onto your faith, your
connection to Me for just a little longer for your just reward.”
“And what reward would that be?
Death? I have done so many things in Your name, tried to do Your will perfectly,
praised You to no end, and done penance for myself and others. Why have you continuously
let me fall and fail?”
“My will can still be done even in
your failure and sometimes requires it to humble you or for something greater
to happen as you are about to see.”
The morning sun rises and fills the
room with light. There’s a knock at Micah’s door before a group of three people
enter it. They care for his wounds and explain themselves.
“We saw how your faith changed you
and how you never gave up no matter what happened to you, so we thought that
your faith must be true,” one of them explains. “The church may be in ruin, but
we can build it back up again and make it better than it was before. Let us
know what we have to do.”
These strangers that Micah becomes
fast friends with build up the wreckage of a church and take care of him
while he is sick. He soon returns to full health and high spirits and helps
these strangers build the church better than it was before. Seeing the faith
and determination of these people cause everyone in the village to consider
going to church and learning their beliefs. The church becomes so popular and
talked about that the diocese sends a new priest to hold masses and is
personally visited by the bishop who blesses it. Renewed by current events,
Micah thanks God for his trials and sufferings that helped create this
awakening of faith and prays that God picks up everyone who constantly falls and
has suffered like him and to be patient in waiting for the hidden reward and
wisdom found in it.
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