Psalm 106 - Name exchange

My friend Cinda highlighted the fact to me that whenever you see the word Israel in the Bible you can usually substitute your own name in its place and it will be relevant to your life and history with God. I counted over 15 mistakes Israel was guilty of and can correlate those to my own guilt and shame. But the hero in this story isn't a repented people but a loving God that is faithful even when we've been unfaithful to him repeatedly. God allowed for intercessors, Moses and Phinehas, to intervene and stand in the breech between the rebellious people and a Holy God. Moses and Phinehas are attributed to keeping Gods wrath from destroying the Israelites and for having righteousness credited. This is a foreshadow of what Christ has done for us. We are in a constant cycle of rebellion towards God, even our best efforts fall short of the standards of God. We deserve God's wrath to destroy us but Jesus steps in as our substitute to not just turn Gods wrath from us but to take it upon himself once and for all who accept this gift of salvation. He exchanged our name for His, He took our punishment on Himself and substituted His righteousness for our unrighteousness. Take some time to answer these questions about yourself asking for conviction, forgiveness, and praising Him for his grace and faithfulness to you.

Psalm 106 Questions -

1. Do you for get what God has done for you in your life? Do you keep a journal or write in your Bible or find some other way to review the history of what He has done for you.

2. Do you wait for His council or do you decide your own agenda hoping He will bless it. Do you go ahead with your action plan or do you seek His will in the situation? Do you want to resolve things right away or can you patiently endure until you know it is a direction from the Lord?

3. Do you give into your cravings? Are you patient or do you have to have it now? Do you put it on credit when you don't have the financial means? What do you do in access? Eat, flirt, drink, shop or stay up too late?

4. Do you put God to the test? Do you not obey Him unless He gives you some sort of sign? Do you want Him to answer your prayers or do you want to obey His will?

5. Are you jealous of your fellow christians who seem to be in God's favor? Do you question the leaders God has put you under and undermine their authority? Do you think you have a right to complain about your pastor or leaders to others?

6. Do you make your own idols? Do you determine what is most important in your life or do you follow God's will and instruction in the Bible for your life? Have you used your own standards to determine that career is more important than family or that kids are more important than your marriage, or that your physical health is more important than your spiritual health?

7. Do you forget who God is? What His character is like? Do you spend time in His word to get to know Him better? Do you remember that it is He that saved you, not your works?

8. Are you content with what He has given you? Do you despise the pleasant land you live in? Are you sick of your furnishings, long for a home improvement remodel, do you complain about the government and your nation. Do you wish you lived in that city or were able to send your kids to that school and wish you had that other job? Do you want to move away from it all or continually wish it was something better or more?

9. Do you believe his promises? Do you know his promises and stand on them for your life? Do you live your life knowing He will meet every need or do you cautiously and slowly move forward hoping He will and setting up safety nets in your life in case He doesn't pull through for you in the way you want Him to?

10. Do you complain? Does every good thing have a down side? Do you start a conversation with a friend or spouse with the bad things that happened in the day or the good things? Are you only able to see the silver lining or can you be thankful for the rain cloud as well?

11. Do you obey? Do you trust God? You won't obey Him if you don't trust Him and you will never learn to trust Him if you don't just start obeying. Do you think you have to have a feeling or sign or confirming circumstance to obey Him? Are you familiar with his commandments? Have you asked God what He wants you specifically to do with the gray areas of moral conduct?

12. Have you yoked yourself to the ways of this world and made sacrifices of time, money and resources to participate in them? Is your standards of beauty, health, parenting, marriage, and even faith tied to what the world says or the Word of God says?

13. Do you rebel against the Spirit of God? When your Holy Spirit guides or convicts do you resist?

14. Do you sacrifice your kids happiness, health, education, emotional security, or well-being to the worlds standards of grades, athleticism or level of performance? Or do we sacrifice their well-being for our own conveniences and interests?

15. What will you do with your life to make sure that verse 43 will not have your name in it and describe your life?