With all the internet helps and handy apps that are available today, it’s remarkably easy to create a plan, map it out, put it into action and track progress. But even when you are ready to go, God frequently says, ‘Sit tight, and be still.’ Even though we might acknowledge His timing as being perfect, few of us like waiting for anything. So, if God puts us in ‘pause’ mode, there’s still a tendency to set a mental stopwatch and anxiously try to pass the time till He moves. Then, when the amount of time we think is reasonable expires, a general uneasiness often sets in. As days and weeks stretch into months and years, the temptation to ignore or doubt the Lord’s instructions intensifies.

That’s because when God says “wait,” it puts Him in control, not us. It becomes His plan and not ours; His outcome and not always the one we want. And that’s the reason we need courage and strength. It’s fearful to have to fully trust your future to someone other than yourself, even if that Someone is God.

That strips it down to the real core of what God intends by asking us to put our plans on hold. Waiting is not so much about the thing we want as it is about our willingness to yield to the Lord our plans, hopes, dreams and timetable. It’s a good old-fashioned test of faith.

Move forward in the story of Esther to see how patient she was in approaching King Xerxes. What can you learn about waiting on God from her example? (Spoiler alert! God was at work behind the scenes preparing a miraculous resolution!)