Does God Have a Sense of Humor?

Recently I was asked if God has a sense of humor. That’s a no brainer, I thought. After all, He placed me (a Vikings fan) in the midst of you (a bunch of Bears fans). That irony is funny!

Bad pastoral jokes aside, I think it is fair to say that God does have a sense of humor. But not necessarily in the way most people think of humor. After all, most people look at a certain situation in their life that is full of humor or wit or irony (like the football situation pointed out above) and conclude that God, with His sense of humor, arranged for things to happen this way. The problem with this type of reasoning, however, is that we have no way to verify such a hypothesis. If God hasn’t revealed something explicitly, who are we to put words and ideas in His mouth?

That being said, there are two reasons why I believe God does have a sense of humor. First, Holy Scripture speaks of God’s laughter in some places and alludes to what must be divine humor in other places. Three times the psalmist tells of God’s laughter and each instance connects God’s laughter with the folly of unbelievers:

“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” [Psalm 2:2]

“But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He sees that his day is coming.” [Psalm 37:13]

“But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You hold all the nations in derision.” [Psalm 59:8]

God is indeed merciful. He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). But when unbelievers mock Him as if He doesn’t exist (atheism) or as if He is not the one and only true God (false religion), He laughs at their folly. This is undoubtedly wrapped up in His divine justice.

God’s actions sometimes allude to a divine sense of humor. Consider the example of the Children of Israel taking the Ark of the Covenant into battle against the Philistines as a good luck charm (cf. 1 Samuel 4—5). Because of their rebellion, the Israelites were defeated and the Ark was captured and carried off and placed into the Philistines’ temple beside the golden idol of their false god Dagon. When they came into their temple the next morning, they found Dagon lying face downward before the Ark (i.e. prostrating before the Ark in acknowledgement that the LORD is the one and only true God). So the Philistines took Dagon and put him back in his place. When they came into their temple the next morning, they once again found Dagon lying face downward before the Ark, with Dagon’s head and hands lying cut off on the threshold (i.e. a god with no head is no god at all, and a god with no hands cannot give anything to his people). I find these events humorous, for they show us in no uncertain terms that God does not tolerate false gods before His face. That is, after all, the First Commandment!

The second reason centers on the good gift of laughter, which, with joy and gladness, God gives His people. The psalmist speaks about the laughter the LORD will give His people following the restoration of Zion—His Church (Psalm 126:1-3). One of Job’s friends comforted him, saying: “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter” (Job 8:21). Wise King Solomon writes: “There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Jesus Himself gave us this beatitude: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh” (Luke 6:21).

Laughter—godly laughter—is a good gift from God. The problem with so much of our laughter, however, is that it centers on sinful things. For example, we have a tendency to laugh at crass or crude jokes or at the expense of others. That type of laughter is not godly. It is sinful. May our gracious Lord keep us from this type of laughter and humor.

So, yes, God does have a sense of humor. But don’t take it upon yourself to define what that sense of humor is. We are only given glimpses of it in His Word. Do rejoice that God has instilled in human beings the virtue of godly humor and laughter. It is indeed a wonderful gift from our Creator!

This article appears in my congregation’s July 2010 newsletter.