I often get asked to help people understand why they are in the job they are in and more urgently, asked to help them get out of their current job. It is usually a hard conversation to have but I have to remind others that timing is everything and timing is not in their hands. When we try and force our own timing we can end up in a situation where we end up making suboptimal decisions which can be hard to reconcile in the future. One bad job change ends up with two problems; getting yourself out of the bad job and then finding another one without making another mistake. Whenever I am in these conversations I remind myself and others that God has a reason that we are all where we are at any given point in time. I am comforted by one of my favorite verses for navigating the uncertainty of our work and our work positions. That verse is found in Esther 4:14: “What’s more, who can say but that you have been elevated to the palace for just such a time as this?” Queen Esther was being tested and asked to do something that she did not want to do, but her aide Mordecai gave her this challenge and it is a good one for each of us to receive when we wonder why we are doing what we are doing. I like to take the verse and insert my own name: “What’s more, (insert your name here), who can say but that (I) you have been elevated to the palace for just such a time as this?” Asking ourselves this question and remembering that God is all-knowing and has a plan for each of us, should take out the question of timing. Today may be the day that you have been put exactly where you are supposed to be for a task and a moment that you have no understanding about…yet. Hang on to and use this promise and challenge the next time you are in a time of wondering. You just may find that you are to persevere and push through just a little longer or be a little more patient so that things can work out the way they are supposed to, on God’s timeline, not yours.

Reference: Esther 4:14 (New Living Testament)