God Has a Sense of Humor

Many have this notion of God being a sullen, serious being devoid of a sense of humor. However, if we were created in His image and we have an impulse to laugh and make others laugh, wouldn’t it be a safe assumption to think this came from Him?

1 SAMUEL 5:1-4 “And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.”

Humor was probably not one of God’s intentions when this incident happened but every time I read it I cannot help but smile. In my mind I can see these Philistines walking into their pagan worship center and seeing their Dagon statue lying on the floor and scratching their head.

God could have done any number of things when they brought the Ark of the Covenant into this place. He could have struck all the Philistines dead. He could have caused an earthquake to split the floor and have the idol fall into the crack or just blew it up entirely. Instead, He simply knocked it down on its face. I find this very humorous!

We serve a just God and a loving God but I think He also has a sense of humor. Not the kind of humor we have grown accustomed to which requires name calling or pointing out undesirable features, but good clean humor. After all, we were made in His image so if we desire laughter then He too must share this desire.

I have heard many different angles on proof of God’s humor. One of which is by pointing out some of the goofy looking animals He created. You know He had to laugh when early animal biologists were organizing the animal kingdom. As they were separating birds and fish and mammals and then all of a sudden came to the platypus and were stumped! Another funny story is when Balaam’s donkey speaks to him. Of all the animals, God chose to give the gift of gab to a donkey!

One could also find humor in Exodus 34:1. God is speaking to Moses after the golden calf incident and says, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.” God could have just said He was going to rewrite the Ten Commandments for Him but couldn’t resist adding at the end, “you know, the first ones I gave you, the ones YOU broke!”

Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” God wants us to find happiness in this life and one of the best ways to do this is having a good sense of humor. Find ways to bring laughter to yourself and others; just remember to keep it clean!