“The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today for building an altar to turn away from following the LORD. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance. No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the LORD. Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the LORD.”’

The fear expressed here is in the sense of afraid, but hidden within the passage is a recognition of the fear of the LORD, God the Almighty. The two and a half tribes who were given the land on the eastern side of the Jordan were concerned that the other tribes would erect an artificial barrier, preventing them from serving the LORD as directed. Their understanding, correctly, I believe, was that they needed to build a reminder to their brethren that they were also part of the elect.

I need to examine my heart to determine that I am not erecting artificial, non-scriptural barriers against my willingness to join other saints in worship. Do I refuse to worship with someone because they are a different sinner than I am? The list of possible objections is endless.

Today's readings in the Psalms:

Morning: Psalm 106

Mid-day: 119:145-152

Evening: Psalm 32

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