I’m spending a long weekend at a friend’s lake house to be on the water, relax, and have extended quiet time. I streamed my church’s service and the message was on Matthew 6:5-15. In the sermon on the mount Jesus goes over how we should and shouldn’t pray, and how our heart posture is what God is after, not our eloquent words. I saw a quote once that said “pray not until God hears you, but until you hear from God” and it is applicable to my quiet time. I’ve been praying to hear more from Him and less from the world or even my own voice. Social media algorithms know what you like and pump your feed of things that match your preferences. I saw a post from a creator that referenced Isaiah 60:22; when the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen. God is talking about the restoration of Israel, but it gives an encouragement of hope. Although I found the poster encouraging, I didn’t hit the like button which signals to the algorithm machines to send more. Another post pops up the next day to ask, seek, knock and don’t give up. And another on God fighting for us and we just have to be still (a favorite verse of mine from Exodus 14). I chalked it up to the algorithm machines and didn’t put any thought to God speaking to me through the posts. I try to be careful not to assign promises to God that He didn’t make or use scripture for my own narrative. Later I went to the grocery store (which I normally don’t do when at the lake house) and “just happened” to end up in line behind a woman who had Luke 1:37 on her purse (Nothing is impossible with God) and I felt like God tapped me on the shoulder and said “the algorithm machine didn’t do that.”

My word for 2025 is possibility and God has been challenging me to believe anything is possible. God certainly has the right to say no to anything I ask that doesn’t align with His will. No doesn’t limit His power, but rather strengthens His power to be sovereign and get glory in a way that sometimes doesn’t make sense to me. I feel God has taught me that lesson the first half of this year and now we’re in a new season of believing yes to be a possibility too. I thought I learned that lesson, but noticed I quickly retreated to the “God’s no is sovereign” camp because the yes hasn’t happened. Yet, I’m not in charge of the timeline. When the time is right, He will make it happen. I don’t have to strive for Him to say yes; I have only to be silent. In my pride I can believe my obedience and good deeds earn me His blessings, but He wants me to ask, seek and knock because of who He is and not what I’ve done. Both yes and no are a possibility, and in the meantime there is the answer of wait.

Prayer is a relationship and relationships develop over time. In the waiting on which possible answer God wants to give, I can wait well by cultivating my relationship with Him. It doesn’t earn me His grace, but it does draw me closer to Him. It’s far easier to assume the no, but in doing so I’m disconnecting from seeking Him, allowing Him to work, and trusting His timeline. God is able to do more than I can even think to ask, but I have to ask and more importantly listen when He is speaking.