Crystal Writes A Blog

If God Had a Like Button

Facebook Like Button As Seen Around the World by Flickr User Patrick Nouhailler, CC License = Attribution, Share Alike
Click image to open a new tab/window to view the original image and to access the user’s full photo stream at Flickr.

I watched a movie some years ago where people paid a machine to give them compliments that would make the payer feel better. The machine would say things like, “Wow, you look really good today,” or “Go for it. You can do anything you set your mind on today.” I remember when I watched it how my heart broke for all the rejected people in the world that might need a machine to tell them they are special. And now we have something similar in our constant quest to have our posts and images liked or favorited, and to have our pages and blogs followed.

In today’s reading from Deuteronomy 1:12 through Deuteronomy 1:21, Moses is still offering his closing speech to the children of Israel and reminding them of all they have been through since leaving Egypt. In this passage, he is reminding them of the times when so many of them thronged him for answers to life’s queries that he determined it was too big a job for just one man. At their request, and at God’s request, Moses selects representatives and leaders from every tribe, clan, and family. And, at this point in their history, those leaders still take charge to hear cases between brothers and to judge fairly.

Moses goes on to remind the leaders not to be intimidated by any person who comes to them for judgment, and he tells them not to show favoritism of great or small men. No matter how a person presents themselves, Moses tells them to not be swayed because the actual decisions in their matters belong to God. He comforts their anxieties about making judgments by reminding them that anything too hard for them to figure out was okay to bring to him.

Moses continues by reminding them of their journey from Horeb through all the fearsome desert on their way to the hill country of the Amorites, and into Kadesh-Barnea. Then, Moses repeats what he said to them about arriving in the country The Lord is graciously giving them. In verse 21 he says, “Look! Adonai your God has placed the land before you. Go up, take possession, as Adonai, the God of your ancestors, has told you. Don’t be afraid, don’t be dismayed.”

In the New Testament, in Romans 8:31, we read, “What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” In social-media-speak that might say, “What should we say then when not enough people like our pages? If God clicked ‘Like’ then who could dislike us?” Like the leadership over Israel, it’s not about how many people like or follow our righteous judgments and rulings, it’s about whether or not God thinks we have judged righteously about a situation. If we have His approval, then we should stand confident in our decisions regardless of what the rest of the world thinks.

Still, can you imagine if God had a like button? Of all the buttons on the above image, I don’t think there’s one that shows what it might say in Holy Spirit language. 🙂 But imagine one, or imagine millions, of people liking your page or your post. Then, suddenly you get that little notification symbol at the top of your page, or the e-mail about new activity on your blog, and it reads, “Jesus Christ liked your page.” If you like Hebrew, you might get the one that says, “Yeshua HaMashiach is now following your blog.” Whoo Hoo! Wouldn’t that just be the best?

Of course, there are some that would freak out and hide everything if they even thought The Lord was reading their pages and posts, let alone hanging around long enough to click “like.” Me, I think God does read all our posts and pages, and I hope there are more than a few where He would click “like” if He had a button. How about you?

July 20, 2014 - Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Bible Commentary, Bible study, Complete Jewish Bible, Deuteronomy, Israel, like button, Moses, Scripture, Torah Portions