In the Waiting

We live in a society where everything is almost instant. We can get anything within a few mins to a few days. If we go onto Amazon, we can get things in 2 days. We can get it delivered to our front door, so we won’t even have to leave the house. We can get anything we want, from hot food to groceries to electronics. That is where the term and application of waiting is problematic. We don’t know the concept of waiting anymore. No one is a fan of waiting, but in the waiting, that is where we build up our character. The period of waiting is where we are getting prepared for our next season of life.

In the story of Esther, Esther had to wait for her place in the Kingdom of Persia. Let me give a backdrop to the story. So the King of Persia, King Ahasuerus, he had banished his queen from the palace because she wouldn’t give in to one of his demands. The demand being that she had to wear her crown, and she was show off her beauty to the other official officers in the Kingdom. So just like that, the King banished her, and there was an empty place next to him. “Then the king's servants who attended him said: "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king; and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women's quarters, under the custody of Hegai the king's eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti." This thing pleased the king, and he did so.”. Found in Esther 2:2-4. Esther was selected to receive these beauty treatments. One year’s worth of treatment before even seeing the king. Esther was in the waiting; she was being prepared for the next thing, which in her case was to be the Queen for King Ahasuerus.

Before Jesus started his public ministry, he was in the waiting; he was being prepared. After his baptism, the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to fast for 40 days and nights. He waited to be built up by the Lord to give him instruction. He was being prepared for what the next three years had in store for him.

Everyone will experience a waiting period. It is hard, but God is refining us. In Isaiah 48:10, it states, “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”. God is refining us in the waiting to be stronger and stand against the next phase of life, so it doesn’t break us down. Like Esther, she was prepared to be a queen, and Jesus who prepared to be in public ministry and, ultimately, his sacrifice on the cross. The waiting period may hurt, we may feel like God has abandoned us, but God knows what we are going through. So we need to listen to Apostle Paul when he says to be of good cheer during affliction times.