To his surprise, his prayer was answered and God replied that he had to promise to do 2 simple things.
Whatever you see, do not reveal.
Whatever you know, do not act upon it.
"Well how difficult could it be?" Thought the pious man and he readily agreed.
Soon after, a rich merchant ran into the chapel and started praising the lord for the bag of gold that he had earned earlier in the day. Kneeling before the alter, he exclaimed, "Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, for with his blessings, I have earned this bag of gold today! Let us celebrate and give thanks to the Lord!" With that, he ran into the courtyard, singing his song of praise. Little did he realise that in his moment of joy, he had forgotten to take his bag of gold.
A poor villager came long and knelt before the altar. "Almighty Lord, my village is plagued with disease and unfortunately, I have no money to buy medication for my village. I pray that you hear my plea and show me the way..." At the moment, the villager noticed a bag of gold placed nicely beside the alter. "Hallelujah!, my prayers are answered!" He took the bag of gold and headed straight back to the village, singing praises along the way.
Next, a clearly distraught sailor walked into the chapel and knelt beside the alter. "My Lord, the sea farers are predicting very rough weather and my captain is insisting to sail tonight. Show me a sign, my lord, if I should stay or leave with my ship."
At that very moment, the merchant walked in and accused the sailor of taking his gold. In his moment of anger, the merchant started kicking and beating the sailor insisting that he had taken the gold. Still in silence, the man who is God for the day decided that he could take no more. In a swift movement, he stopped the fight, told the merchant where the gold was and instructed the sailor to leave before it got any worse.
The sailor ran back to his ship and decided to sail that night. The ship never made it to its destination and all crew members were unaccounted for. The merchant took back what was rightfully his and the entire village perished without the gold for buying medication. In a twist of fate, the merchant himself contracted the frightful disease and didn't live to enjoy the gold he had claimed.
The man who played God broke down in tears. "My Lord, I did not listen to you when you warned me. I now know it is never easy being God."
To which God gently replied, "My child, sometimes when God chooses not to act, it is not because he does not care, it is because he cares too much..."
Take heart my friends. There will be times when we feel that our Lord has forsaken us. When we feel all alone and weary. It doesn't mean that he doesn't care. It takes so much more to sit back and let us experience things for ourselves than the other way around. It is also through these testing times that we discover who we are and what we are made of. I may not be a pious Christian but I do know he exists and has a plan for all of us.
Have faith, things will only get better!
1 comment:
Trust in the lord. He knows best.
Post a Comment