Some Arabian horses received quite intense training. In order to be used for long, cross-desert trips, they had to receive proper training. The trainer would do something that some of you may think is very cruel.

The trainer would make the horses go several days without water. This would prepare them for the realities of the desert. By the end of the several days, the horses were very thirsty. One at a time, the trainer would whistle, giving a horse permission to take a drink of water. Each horse would go galloping to the water, where it thought it could drink to its heart’s desire.

Right when the horse got to the water, the whistle would blow and command the horse to come back. The horses that stopped and slowly came back to the trainer, even though they were quivering with thirst, passed the training. Until that happened, they were not useful.

The horses needed to learn obedience in order for them to be used by their owners. We must also learn to be obedient to God’s Word if we are going to be used of God. If we obey God when He tells us to wait for His timing, then we will experience a truly abundant life.

God is working in our lives each and every day, teaching us to rely on Him. When God tells us, “No, not yet,” we must trust Him that He knows what is best and obey Him.