As we learn to trust the Lord, perhaps no spiritual challenge is more difficult than waiting. A number of the Psalms and several of the prophets repeat that prayer, “How long?” It is the cry of a heart which believes God can be trusted while also feeling keenly that dull ache of soul which often accompanies a long season of waiting.

Consider the Book of Esther. It is a dramatic story, and we might often read the main events without noticing the details. For example, what must it have been like for Esther, Mordecai, and all the Jews in Persia to cry to the Lord after hearing the decree for their destruction? It took about two months before a partial remedy came by the death of wicked Haman, the instigator of that decree; and it was another nine months before they gained a full deliverance from their adversaries (Est. 3:12; 8:9–12). Although no specific prayers are recorded, we can be certain of their intense supplication, day after day and month after month, as they waited to see what God would do.

In such times it is encouraging to realize that God has been at work even longer than we have been in distress. Events recorded in the Book of Esther span about ten years in total (cf. Est. 1:3). The Jews’ extremity of need lasted nearly a year; but God, in His secret, mysterious ways, had set His devices in motion at least nine years before. So often in the Bible we find that God takes the long view of history, harnessing the acts of emperors, villains, and ordinary people to accomplish His purposes.

Perhaps that prayer, “How long, O Lord?” expresses your own anguish as you pray about some enduring grief. And who can give a response? In the Scriptures, those who ask are almost never answered with a specific time. But waiting on the Lord has value in itself, and one day we will realize that His ways were perfect.