The Voice of Ego

As we move into our quiet time with the Lord and seek to hear His voice, we may be surprised that there are other voices to hear.  One of the most difficult to discern is our own voice.  All of us from time to time have prayed the prayer which has nothing to do with "thy will be done,"  but one which instead is about "my will be done."  In other words, we have prayed asking, or telling, God what we think He should do and must do.  As we pray such a prayer, it takes us only a step away from hearing our own voice speaking a word convincing us that we want is what God wants.    

The truth is that God's agenda and our agenda is often different.  We are looking for the quick fix.  We are expecting a story to end according to our expectations.  We know what God should do and when He should do it.  To pray in this way long enough is likely to result in our ego convincing ourselves that what we have said to God is what He is saying to us.  The truth is God often says, "No," or "Not now," neither of which is what we want to hear.  God is usually in less of a hurry than we are.  His time is not our time. 

The voice of our own ego can speak loudly enough to speak over any other voice, even the voice of the Lord.  It is a voice which speaks from within us that requires our measuring it against what we know to be the will of God.  His will is revealed in the Word.  It may also be revealed through conversations with those who have proven themselves to be trustworthy friends that are genuinely interested in our well being and the well being of our relationship with God, and not just "yes" people in our lives.  Whenever we pray and listen seriously for God's voice, we need to pray for discernment lest we take a wrong turn at an important juncture of our life simply because we have decided it is the thing to do.