Laugh — because we are created in His image! ............. Parables 730

September 4, 2001

My weekly drive to Rimbey to see my mother is almost like going on a safari with a side trip to an avant garde art gallery. The safari offers whitetail and mule deer, the usual cattle, horses, goats, pigs, sheep and donkeys, but we are often delighted by herds of domestic elk, bison, llamas, and even long-horned Highland cattle, all far from their normal homes.

The main feature in the art gallery draws the greatest chuckle. It is a fence about a mile long with a colorful baseball cap nailed to the top of each fence post. We understand llamas and the like in Central Alberta, but no matter how creative a farmer is in making his living, fence posts do not normally sprout baseball caps. We cannot help but laugh.

This trip reminds me that people are both creative and humorous. God made us in His image so we come by it honestly. He is not only creative but one look at animals like giraffes and platypus convince me that He has a sense of humor.

Besides odd animals, God’s humor shows up in other ways. In the Old Testament, a man named Gideon is described as something of a coward. One day, the angel of the Lord came to him and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (that is funny) then told him to “go in the strength you have,” and save Israel from the oppressive power the Midianites who threatened to overpower them.

Faint-hearted Gideon protested. He was from the weakest clan. He was the least in his family. He had more excuses — but God persisted. Finally, after testing God’s message several times, Gideon agreed. He gathered an army of 32,000 to go against the 135,000 Midianites. Then God asked him to thin down his army, first to 10,000, then to three hundred. Gideon was not laughing, yet.

The Lord told Gideon to divide his army into three companies and give each man a trumpet and an empty pitcher with a torch in it. They obeyed. They surrounded the enemy camp. When Gideon blew his trumpet, the men blew their trumpets and at the same time broke their pitchers revealing the light of their torches. It turned out that the Midianites were already afraid of Israel. They cried out in terror and in their confusion, they began to slaughter each other until over 120,000 were dead. The rest fled.

God often delights His people with an idea that works when it seems impossible. In another situation, He told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child but they were “old, well-advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself” no doubt because she found the idea so outrageous.

God makes me laugh too. Some of the animals He created seem to be put together backwards. Some wind up in the most unexpected places. Sometimes the people He created demonstrate a zany creative streak. Sometimes He offers His people ideas that work even though they seem impossible. We laugh and I am certain He is laughing too.

Lord, You told Gideon he had “too many men” and might boast against You by saying his own strength saved them. You reduced his army, yet he must have laughed when he saw how Your creative solution outwitted the enemy.

I chuckle when I see skunks and armadillos and how they have a place in Your creation. You perplex me with conundrums then solve them in startling ways. You also give me the gift of being able to laugh. Thank You for a sense of humor. Enable me to use it in my creativity too.

God’s Sense of Humor .............. Parables 277

July 24, 1991

So it takes more energy to frown than smile. So laughing burns 3 ½ calories. So happy people are healthy people. But when I am sad, I need more than a promise of energy, health and weight-loss to get me laughing again.

Actually, I want very much to be a full wit instead of only half a one. I TRY to remember jokes and funny stories. I’ve also invested in a few favorite cartoon books -- that usually produce a chuckle. Old movies and even CBC radio can be side-splitting and I have been known for the occasional practical joke. Life in an empty nest even holds its ribs in hysterics from time to time (as my even-more-serious-than-me husband comes up with some unexpected shenanigan). But with all that, I still feel I am far too serious. I would like to have a fuller sense of humor.

Actually God has one. Consider the giraffe’s looks, the skunk’s perfume and the antics of some of the more peculiar insects. They make us laugh and so they should; our Maker encourages us to have merry heart. He says it is like good medicine (Prov.17:22).

God Himself even laughs, but not at the same things we find amusing. He contemplates the wicked who plot against His people and “...laughs at him: for He sees that his day is coming” (Psalms 37:13).

While we normally don’t laugh in the face of those who mistreat us and might even consider it rude, laughing can be an attitude of heart that keeps us from falling into their false value systems. For instance, if the rich and famous on television or the bigger house up on easy street causes us to wonder if we missed out on the good life, Psalms 52:6 says: “The righteous shall see and fear, and laugh at those who trust in riches...”

Along the same vein, we can laugh in the face of trials. Job 5:22 says “At destruction and famine you shall laugh: neither shall you be afraid of the beasts of the earth.”

This was spoken to a man being chastened by the Lord (of all things), but the Bible affirms God only chastens His children. Put that all together... and what more reason to laugh? Even in trials, I am under the care of my heavenly Father -- who laughs at those who tries to destroy His children!

Another reason for laughter is forgiveness of sins, even though sin itself is certainly not a funny issue. It separates us from God and will send us to eternal damnation. Yet the person who mourns over displeasing God and who longs to be righteous is given the promise of eventual laughter: “Blessed are you that hunger now: for you shall be filled. Blessed are you that weep now: for you shall laugh” Luke 6:21).

The idea is that true sorrow over sin leads to repentance, and repentance leads to faith in Jesus Christ and faith in Jesus Christ leads to forgiveness of sin and righteousness... and that leads to laughter!

Those who love God often find themselves laughing over what He does. He promised Sarah and Abraham a son but both entered old age and that promise seemed an impossibility. However, Sarah gave birth at ninety years! No wonder she said, “God has made me laugh...”

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh...” Surely God’s people should find time for both sadness and laughter. We can easily be burdened over the sin and sorrows that plague our planet, and while it is right to weep and mourn over sin, we should never forget that God laughs. He knows Christ has secured complete victory over all that hurts and destroys. In the end, He will wipe away our tears and usher us into a heaven that is, I am certain, filled with holy laughter.