Everybody enjoys a good laugh. A person who does not like to laugh is indeed in the pit of depression. Laughter is an universal language. Everyone understands a laugh. It is universal because it knows no international boundaries. From the burning desert of the Sahara to the frigid wastes of Siberia, people all over the world experience and enjoy laughter. Laughter knows no ethnic or racial restrictions. The Hottentots of Africa, the aborigines of Australia, and the Eskimos of Alaska all engage in laughter. Laughter knows no age barriers. The littlest toddler in the playpen to the oldest Senior citizen in the wheelchair all enjoy laughter.
But while laugher is a universal experience, it is also a uniquely human experience. Of all the creatures on earth only humans can laugh. The kitten frolicking around the house cannot laugh. The dog next door who barks at the worst hour of the night cannot laugh. The elephant with his prodigious memory cannot laugh. The gorilla with his enormous strength cannot laugh.
Laughter is a uniquely human experience. All of us enjoy laughter. We love to hear others laugh. We love to hear the innocent laughter of children at play or the joyous laughter of people enjoying themselves at a social event. We enjoy laughing at a funny story or an amusing incident. Everybody loves a good laugh.
But there is another side to laughter. There is a flip side to laughter. Most of us love to laugh but most of us don’t enjoy being laughed at. There are some comedians who make their living by becoming the butts of their own jokes and actions. Charlie Chaplain, probably the greatest comedian or funny man of all times, was successful because he made people laugh at him. It makes a difference when you’re paid for people to laugh at you. Then you can laugh all the way to the bank. But most of us don’t enjoy being laughed at.
Children go through many traumatic experiences when other children laugh at them because of the way they are dressed or by the way they walk or talk. Many of you are afraid to do things in the church and elsewhere because you are concerned about making a mistake or doing something that will make people laugh at you. Most of us enjoy laughing, but it takes an unusual person who doesn’t mind being laughed at.
I guess most of us here can remember times when we were laughed at by others and how uncomfortable it made us feel. I can remember when I visited Switzerland right after the 2nd World War before I came home from overseas. Many of the people evidently had never seen a Black person before. I can remember walking down the street as some people would look at me and break out in uncontrolled laughter. Those were the days before television so I suppose they had never seen a Black person before.
It doesn’t make you feel good to be laughed at. Some people take joy at laughing at other people’s misfortunes or failures. Some people laugh at you in front of your face, while others will laugh at you behind your back. In either case, few people enjoy being laughed at. But how would you feel if you knew God was laughing at you?
When we come to the Bible, laughter is usually viewed from an unfavorable perspective. Laughter is not mentioned often in the Bible and rarely does it carry the connotation of merriment, joy, or happiness. But laughter in the Bible is usually done in scorn, contempt, or derision. Laughter is usually directed at somebody.
People laughed at Jesus when he said he could revive Jairus’ daughter from death. The Philistines laughed at Samson when he was led before them blinded and helpless. The wicked laughed at the ruined city of Jerusalem when it was overrun by the Babylonians. Sarah laughed at God when he said she would bear a son at the age of 90. Even God laughs at people in the Bible.
One of the places we find God laughing is in our text for today in Psalm 2. It’s not a funny thing when God laughs at you. It’s bad enough to have folks laugh at you, but it’s really bad news when God laughs at you. Don’t look now. But could God be laughing at us right now?
Psalm 2:4 says he that sits on the throne in heaven laughs. Why did God laugh? What was the cause of His laughter? This psalm can be divided into 3 scenes. In the first scene we see the CAUSE of God’s laughter. This psalm is probably hypothetical, meaning that it does not refer to an event that happened in real history, although it could. Yet it is representative of the reality of human nature and experience.
Evidently a king is about to be anointed and installed over the nation of Israel. The implication is that this king of Israel as God’s anointed also rules over all the nations of the world. But the rulers of the nations of the earth seem to rebel against God’s anointed king. They rise up and say, “let us break away from him. We will not have him to rule over us.” But a rebellion against God’s king is really the same as rebelling against God himself. The nations are in effect rebelling against the rule and control of God.
Today the nations are still rebelling against the rule of God. They will not have Jesus Christ, the King of Kings to rule over them. The people at Jesus’ trial cried out that they did not want him to rule over them. But verse 4 says God who sits in heaven laughs at the audacity and the nerve of these rulers.
Sometimes when we hear of something preposterous or outlandish or just simply without rhyme or reason we often say, “Don’t make me laugh.” The whole heaven resounds with the laughter of God. These puny kings of the earth have set themselves up against the Lord of the universe. “Don’t make me laugh,” says God. The creature rebelling against the Creator. Don’t make me laugh. The subjects denounce the ruler. Don’t make me laugh. The finite rile against the infinite. Don’t make me laugh. The temporal revolts against the eternal. Don’t make me laugh.
But I wonder if the nations of the world are still making God laugh? God is still on the throne. He has not abdicated his kingdom to another. The nations of the world struggle for superiority, but God still rules. Atheistic nations may deny His existence, but God still is. The capitalist nations may preempt his ethical demands, but God’s justice will prevail. The secular humanists choose to ignore Him, but God’s glory fills heaven and earth. God may still be looking at the proud and rebellious nations of the world and saying, “Don’t make me laugh.” But God could be saying the same thing to us. Are we making God laugh at us? Are you making God laugh at you? I think many times we make God laugh at us. What are some of the causes for God’s laughter at us?
Many of us go on our merry way without even thinking of God, the one who made us and breathed life into us. How God must laugh! We say we are standing on His promises when most of us are just sitting on the premises. How God must laugh! Are we making God laugh at us? We insist on running our own lives. We get up each day without thanking God for the blood that runs warm in our veins. How God must laugh! We greet each dawn without thanking God for the day he has made. We get up each day without thanking God that last night’s bed of rest did not become our cooling board. How God must laugh!
We don’t want God to rule over us. We are just as guilty as the nations of Psalm 2. There is an independent streak in us that makes us want to do our own thing. We have heard it said that the human race desires freedom, freedom from oppression, freedom from bondage, freedom from fear. We desire to be free from anything that would bind us and deprive us of our independence. Some white slave masters in days gone by thought that the slaves enjoyed being in slavery. They mistook their laughter and frolic for satisfaction with their condition. But the slaves longed for freedom, longed for the yoke of oppression to be lifted from their backs.
No human being desires to be shackled in slavery and bondage. Within the human bosom beats the desire for freedom and liberation. But when it comes to God we dare not assert our independence. God desires us to be dependent on him that he may make us truly free. God made us to be dependent on him. God is the creator and we are the creatures. What right do the creatures have to ignore and disregard the one who gave them life? We are made to be dependent on God.
Sin is the inclination to live without God, or to be independent of God. All sin stems from the desire to be independent from the rule and authority of God. Adam and Eve’s sin was in wanting to become their own gods and to determine for themselves the difference between right and wrong.
I am on the Presbytery’s committee for preparation for ministry. This is the committee that oversees all those persons seeking ordination as ministers of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian church. One candidate the other day in her statement of faith said that we as humans are inclined to hate God. But I don’t think it is a matter of us hating God as it is a matter of our ignoring God.
Most people don’t hate God, but they ignore God. To hate God means that there is a being that we acknowledge the existence of. But to ignore God is to act as if he didn’t exist, which is worse. Most of us don’t hate God as long as we think he condones the things we are doing. But we don’t want to bow down before and omnipotent God. That’s the bottom line.
Many of us rebel against the rule of God over our lives. We live in a day in which everything is relevant. There is no absolute truth. In other words just because God said it doesn’t make it necessarily true. In other words, God doesn’t know everything. God has to go through a learning process just as we do. In some theological circles this is called process theology or panentheism, which allows for God to grow in knowledge. God has to learn some things to.
I don’t intend to get into a debate over the homosexual issue. People have strong opinions on both sides. But for the sake of illustration, one of the key points that the Christian homosexual community makes is that the Scripture takes no account of a loving committed relationship between persons of the same sex. What the Bible contends and what Paul especially condemns is indiscriminate lustful same sex relationships. Many of these lustful acts were done as part of a religious rite before the altar of false gods and idols. So what they are saying is that God didn’t know anything about a loving committed relationship between 2 persons of the same sex. But how do we know that God didn’t know anything about it? An argument from silence is always weak. And we are on shaky ground when we contend that God needs to know or learn something.
God is all wise. God is omniscient. God knows everything. But people today are saying that God needs to get his act together. God needs to get caught up with the times. God needs to get up to date. God needs to be contemporized. God needs to be oriented and brought up to date to today’s thinking. We are saying that there are some things God doesn’t know. How God must laugh at us!
Is there anything that God does not know? How dare we limit God’s knowledge and wisdom. How dare we put God in a box. How dare we say that God needs to be conformed to us, rather than us being conformed to his will. We’ve got things turned around it seems to me. God’s knowledge is perfect. Our knowledge is limited. God’s ways are past finding out. Our ways are incomplete. If we say there is some things God doesn’t know, we are saying we know as much as God does. But God is infinite, and we are finite. How can we begin to know as much as God does?
For all of those questions God asked Job, Job had no answer. God asked Job a whole lot of questions that we even in our modern technological age have no answer. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Upon what were the foundations of it fastened? Who laid the cornerstone? Where were you Job, when the morning stars sang for joy and the angels shouted for joy? Tell me Job, have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Where is the way where light dwells, and as far darkness ,where is its abode?” Job had no answers for all the questions God asked him.
And we modern day Jobs are just as dumbfounded as he was. God is God. God is a know it all. How dare we compare our finite understanding with the infinite wisdom of God? How God must laugh at us! God doesn’t need to be brought up to date. God is as up to date as tomorrow’s newspaper, not today’s paper, but tomorrow’s. God doesn’t need to be briefed by us. God knows what’s going down. God knows what it is. God knows more about what’s going on than we do. God is all wise, all knowing.
Some would say that God needs to be oriented into today’s time and culture. But I’ve got news for you. God is from everlasting to everlasting. He knows the beginning from the end. He is alpha and omega. He knows everything from A to Z and beyond. Are we obeying the commands of God?
I’m not saying that all the knowledge and wisdom of God is contained in the Bible. The Bible and no other book could hold all the knowledge of God. There are some things that God has not revealed to us. But God wants us to obey what He has revealed to us in the Bible. Don’t worry about what you don’t understand. Do what you do understand. There is enough there to keep you busy for a life time.
Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. That will keep you busy for a few decades. Love your neighbors as yourselves. That will keep you busy for a few more years. Do good to those who despitefully treat you. That’s enough to keep you busy for more time. God has given us enough to keep us busy for a life time. Spend all of your time not questioning God but obeying God. Don’t try to second guess God, trust him. Know that God has your best interests at heart. Is God laughing at us? It’s not funny when God laughs at us.
Now in the second scene of this Psalm we see the CONSEQUENCES of God’s laughter. In the first part we saw the cause of God’s laughter. God’s laughter is akin to his wrath. Verse 5 says he shall speak to them in his wrath. There is a fine line between God’s laughter and His wrath and anger. It’s a serious thing to have God laugh at you. Verse 9 says God shall break these heathen nations with a rod of iron and shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
I’m not so sure that all the turmoil in the world is not a sign of God’s displeasure at the nations who refuse to acknowledge his rule over them. Maybe God is giving the nations just enough rope to hang themselves. Maybe God says, “since you refuse to allow me to rule over you, I’ll let you go your own independent self-destructive way.” Maybe God doesn’t have to do anything but sit back and let the nations of the world destroy themselves.
We claim to be a Christian nation. We have “in God we trust” stamped on our coins. We say we are one nation under God. But this is not a nation under God. It is a nation under the dollar sign. God does not rule America. The dollar does. The bottom line is profits, pure and simple. All decisions made in this country are done in light of their effect on the profits of big business. We say we are a Christian nation, at least a religious nation.
More people go to church percentage wise in America than probably any other country in the world. We claim to adhere to the tenets of the Judea/Christian religion. But our actions belie the ethics and morality of that faith. It’s not funny when God laughs at us.
The consequences of his laughter leads to his anger and wrath. The wrath of God may be upon us. But perhaps more often God lets us stew in our own stew. We fail to acknowledge his rule over us, so we suffer the consequences. We fail to obey God. We think we know what is best for ourselves. God says don’t be unequally yoked. Yet we go off and marry someone who doesn’t give a dime about God and the church and wonder why our marriage didn’t work out.
God says your body belongs to me. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You belong to me. I bought you with the price of the blood of Jesus. Yet we do things that abuse and hurt our bodies. We continue to smoke and wonder why we end up with lung cancer. We continue to drink and wonder why we have liver trouble. We continue to stuff ourselves with food and wonder why we become obese and unhealthy. We eat things we are not supposed to eat and wonder why we end up with all kinds of diseases. We engage in adultery and fornication and wonder why we end up with all kinds of diseases. All because we don’t want God to rule over our lives and our ways.
Young people deny God’s influence over them and associate with bad company and wind up on drugs or in jail or both. God won’t force us to allow Him to rule over us, but when we fail to do so, we must be willing to pay the consequences. Sometimes it may seem as if he is breaking us with a iron rod of trouble and dashing us to pieces on the rocks of tribulations. It’s a serious thing when we make God laugh at us, and deny his rule and control over us.
But then in the final scene of this psalm we see the CESSATION of God’s laughter. We have seen the cause, the consequences, and now the cessation. We don’t have to face the consequences of his laughter which results in his wrath.
Today is the last Sunday before Lent. The New Testament text for the day is Matthew 17 which describes the transfiguration of Jesus. This Sunday is known as the transfiguration of Christ. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain and when the disciples saw Moses and Elijah conferring with Jesus, Peter said let us make 3 booths here to commemorate the occasion, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. Then a shining cloud appeared and a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved with whom I am well pleased.”
This text is very similar to what we find in the Psalm 2 in verse 7 which says, “Your are my son, this day I have anointed you” The passage in Matthew says, “Listen to Him.” Listen to Jesus. Submit yourself to him. Peter was to be commended for his proposal for 3 booths. But God had a better idea. Listen to Jesus. Bow down before him. Submit yourself to him. He is King of Kings.
In the later part of this Psalm God gives some good advice. O Kings of the earth. O rulers of the nations. Ye movers and shakers of the countries of the earth. Wise up. Be warned. Serve the Lord with fear and trembling. They would be blessed if they made the King their refuge.
When we bow down and accept Jesus as our Lord and savior, when we crown him as Lord of our lives, God will stop laughing at us and start smiling upon us. Listen to Jesus, and he will be a refuge in the time of storm. Listen to him, and he will guide you with his eye. Listen to him, and he will guard you with his presence. Listen to him, and he will sustain you with His might. Listen to him, and he will comfort you with his love. Listen to him, and he will hold you in his hands. Listen to him, and he will bear you up with his arms.
He will keep you by His power. He will direct you by his wisdom. He will defend you with his truth. He will lift you by his grace. Listen to him. Bow down and obey him. He will be your shelter in the time of storm. He will be your cleft in the mighty rock. He will be your peace in the midst of confusion.
God will stop laughing at you. God won’t say, “Don’t make me laugh.” God won’t be laughing at you. He will smile on you. Other folks may laugh at you because of our stand for Jesus. But God will smile on you. Others may laugh at us because we love the Lord. But God will smile on you. Others may laugh at us because we believe in His word. But God will smile on you. Others may laugh at us because we serve the Lord. But God will smile on us. Others will laugh at us because we obey Him. But God will smile on us.
Let folks laugh at you. Let them make fun of you. Let them laugh at you on your way to glory. Let them ridicule you. As long as things are alright between you and the Lord, let them laugh. Don’t worry about it, because God has smiled on you.
I’m so glad that God has smiled on me. “He has set me free. He is the source of my joy. He fills me with his love. He is a light unto my path. He’s my strength when I would fall. He sends down his grace from above. He guides me each and every day. God is my all in all. God has smiled on me. He has set me free. God has smiled on me. He’s been good to me.”
May God never say to us, “Don’t make me laugh.”
