[One-Verse Meditation]

Joshua 22:34 “And the people of Reuben and Gad named the altar Witness (Ed), for they said, ‘It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.’”

[Meditation]

The altar built by the three tribes was a ‘clumsy zeal’ that drove the entire community to the brink of crisis. It stemmed from a good motive—the desire not to be separated from God’s inheritance—but it was because they tried to accomplish it themselves.

However, God did not leave them to themselves. In the midst of the conflict, He worked to make them realize that true peace (shalom) is not the result of human effort, but only of His work. The confession that burst forth from this great realization is the altar’s new name: ‘Ed’ (Witness).

In the place where human effort ceased, the great confession of faith—”a witness that the LORD is God”—was established. Come to think of it, all of Israel’s history was this altar of witness, ‘Ed’—a witness that the LORD is God.

It is the same for us. God finds all the various altars we have built and calls them all ‘Ed,’ a witness to His work. All of our time, even our wrong judgments and sins, are ultimately used as tools to witness to His goodness.

That is why we can only confess, always:

“We cannot do it without God. God did it all. The LORD alone is our God.”

And so, we rejoice and delight in that God.

[Prayer]

Lord, help us to rejoice today that You are with us as ‘Ed,’ and in that place of ‘Ed,’ let it be a new day of delighting in You. Amen.
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[Daily Reading]

Joshua 22:30-23:13