Deuteronomy 6:13-15 (ESV)
It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
God, in our midst, changes our behavior in the midst of the world. God in us changes us in them. The fact that God is omnipresent changes (or, should change us) how we interact with the world. The above text is taken from the section about the giving of the Law through the mouth of Moses. Moses is instructing them about how to live before God AND before the nations they are about to conquer. The giving of the Law was to establish for the nation of Israel the path to God. But, it was also given to have them live differently than the world around them. Not only are they to serve God by obeying the Law, but they were also to show forth God’s glory to the world around them via obedience. The fact that God was in the midst of them, as stated in this passage, is the motivating factor for them. In other god-worshipping approaches to life, the god does not live in their “midst.” That was unheard of. The gods of this world are presented as unapproachable. But, our God is not only approachable, He is also approaching us and engaging with us. Let us not forget that God is in the midst of our lives and invites us to walk in obedience toward Him. That makes us, in turn, a someone who is walking in front of the world around us. He is in our midst so that we can walk in their midst. As we obey God, we show forth His glory to this world.
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