June 16, 2020 – Click here to listen
My wife and I pray together twice daily; once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. She leads the prayer thru one session, and I lead during the other. So yesterday it was my turn, and I began my prayer as follows: “Dear Lord this is Bob Williamson . . .” Suddenly I realized what I said, and I broke out laughing as did my wife. We laughed very hard and it was several minutes before I could resume praying. When I resumed, I started the prayer by saying through chuckles, “Father this is Bob, not that you don’t already that,” and continued the prayer. As to why I said this I have no idea. I know very well that God knows who I am as He intently listens to my prayers. The only reason I can figure as to why I might have said that is I had called several people prior to my prayer and started the conversation identically by telling them who I was.
It reminds me of my brother when we were in high school. He needed to call a potential employer for a part time job and was as nervous as a preacher in a brothel. He was sitting on a stool in the hall by the phone and practicing what he was going to say when he called, and my father was standing there coaching him. He was totally flustered and blurted out, “But dad, what should I tell him my name is?”
My exasperated father rolled his eyes at him and said, “Well JIM, tell him your name is JIM.” We all broke out laughing and I haven’t forgotten that incident 60 plus years later. I suspect I will remember my prayer for some time too.
I was thinking about this and come to the conclusion that with all the terrible things going on in our beloved country and indeed the planet, we really needed that laugh. My wife and I have laughed about it several times since and it feels good to laugh.
I also thought about God and I just know He laughed as well. After all we are made in His image. I would imagine He too needed a good laugh. He looks down on the evil that is ravaging this beautiful blue planet that He created for us and those who defy Him day in and day out and I know it makes Him angry and sad.
I imagine heaven to be full of laughter; after all, how could we have true joy without laughter?” Don’t allow Satan to take away your joy even during times of deep distress. I have found YouTube to be a great source of laughter. Just search for the word “funny” and you will find video after video that will evoke laughter for hours. It’s way better than watching bad news 24/7.
In the words of American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr: “Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer.” Things are going to turn out just fine, so live, laugh, and love. And remember the best things in life are not things.
Jesus had a serious mission to accomplish in this world, but He was not one to be somber all the time. There is no verse that I can find in the Bible that says, “Jesus laughed,” but we know that He felt all of our emotions. Laughter is part of life, and Jesus truly lived as we live only without sin. Yes there is sorrow in this world but God is a God of laughter as well as of sorrow – much as God is Lord of the valleys as well as the mountain tops . . .
Psalm 126:2
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”