Does God Laugh?

Yesterday, I was in the middle of some work when I received a phone call from a friend of mine. It was a great phone call. It was great because the majority of the time we just laughed together. In fact, that’s what we always do when we talk to each other—we laugh. Later in the day, I was sitting with my 8-month old daughter, one of the happiest children I have ever seen in my life—I’m not just exaggerating here. She laughs a lot, a whole lot. To be honest, she laughs more than any other person I know. She’s usually awake twelve hours out of the day. If I were to add up the amount of time she spends laughing, I think it would easily be over an hour and a half. Truthfully, the kid laughs like no other.

Personally, I love laughing and I love when my daughter laughs. Her laughs are more innocent than mine. Sometimes I laugh at the expense of others; sometimes I laugh when I shouldn’t. She laughs when her toys fall over, when I make a funny noise, when her mom plays with her and when she gets tickled. She has laughed more in her first 8-months of life than most adults probably have in the past 8 years of their lives. Isn’t that amazing? When is it exactly, that we lose our propensity to laugh like she does? Is it when we turn 18? 21? Is it when we are told by society that we are adults now and that we need to grow up? Is it when we have to start working and paying bills? Where along the way do we quit laughing so easily and innocently?

Unfortunately, the Scriptures don’t say too much about laughing and when they do, it usually isn’t in a positive sense. The biblical matriarch Sarah laughed but she laughed at God and the way the text reads, it probably was a sarcastic, doubtful laugh. Throughout the Bible, many people mock and scoff at God and His judgment—they laugh Him off. Others laugh at those who are the ousted and outcasts of society. The rich laugh at the poor. My search for a positive image of laughter in the Bible ended up rather bleak. Indeed, each of the three halfway positive mentions of laughter were offset by negative ones. I wonder: When did the people of antiquity, those living during the days spoken of in the Bible, quit their happy laughing? And why were they so down on laughing?

I don’t know the answer to this question. But what about God? I’ve heard people say that God has a sense of humor but the Scriptures hardly back up such statements. Perhaps, though, it is sheer logic or reason that convinces us that God laughs, that He’s happy and that He has a sense of humor. I’d like to think that even God doesn’t take Himself too seriously all of the time. I’d like to think that God laughs with (and at) me sometimes and that I make Him smile. I even wonder if I’ve ever made God have one of those good belly-laughs, you know, the kind where you just can’t stop laughing and when you finally do, you feel worn out and refreshed all at the same time?

I’m not sure that I can prove that God has a sense of humor. But again, I’d like to think He does. I’ve heard people say the platypus is proof—I don’t know, though, the platypus might not like hearing that. All I know is that if we are made in God’s image and if, in turn, He is anything like us, He has to have some sense of humor. Perhaps I’m just consoling myself, though, because the thought of a God who doesn’t laugh would force me to ask the question: God, when and why did you stop laughing? Then again, such questions seem moot when the first thing my daughter does each morning is laugh. What can this be but the gentle, calm and loving Spirit that is shaping her life? I don't know but I sure hope that God has something to do with it!