God has a funny bone too!

An explorer in the deepest Amazon suddenly finds himself surrounded by a blood-thirsty group of natives. Upon surveying the situation, he says quietly to himself "Oh God, I'm screwed!!!" Suddenly, there is a ray of light from heaven and a voice booms out: "No, you are NOT screwed. Pick up that stone at your feet and bash in the head of the chief standing in front of you." So the explorer picks up the stone and proceeds to bash the living heck out of the chief. As he stands above the lifeless body, breathing heavily and surrounded by 100 natives with a look of shock on their faces, God’s voice booms out again: "Okay… NOW you're screwed."

Had a healthy laugh? Good. Its difficult to imagine God giving such instructions, but that sure was funny wasn’t it? In my opinion, humour is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind. I don’t think he wanted a man who frowned or deadpanned all the time. He animated our features by teaching us to smile and delighted our souls with the sound of laughter. But He also understood that smiles and laughter would be become mechanical activities unless we had a reason for them…I think that’s when he decided to give us His divine gift of a sense of humour!

Humour is certainly divine, there’s no doubt about it. The Word of God itself is filled with subtle humour. It may not have you rolling in the aisles, but look hard and it’ll certainly tickle your funny bone. Take Jonah for instance. Has there ever been a funnier prophet? I mean the way he scrambles in one direction when God beckons to the other is worthy of being classified as slapstick comedy! He finally decides to play along and goes ahead and makes all these dramatic predictions of brimstone and fire raining down in divine judgement on the city of Niniveh. And then those silly people go and repent and our just and fair God forgives them! What an ass Jonah must have felt! And imagine the comical look on his face when his precious creeper wilted, leaving him frying in the hot Mediterranean sun!! Oh man, God’s a funny guy alright!

Clean humour never hurt anybody and can be used as an instrument of adoration and worship when directed well. I mean, who doesn’t like a strong sermon peppered with funny but meaningful anecdotes? Jesus Himself told parables…most of them satirical or even funny pertaining to the standard of humour in those days. Remember the time when the Pharisees tried to trap Him with the taxation controversy? Jesus deftly sides-steps them with a ‘Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God, what belongs to God’. Then there was this other time when He gently explains how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven – “Like a camel passing through the eye of a needle” – a ridiculous picture if you actually imagined it! Sharp-witted guy, Jesus had to be!

John 11.35 is something people dwell on over and over again – ‘Jesus wept’. But consider this. This was a gentle man, who played with children, spent lots of time with friends and common people in pastures, mountainsides and lakesides, made merry with the poor, the sick and the shunned, inviting the displeasure of the rich, the religious and the powerful…..surely, he must have laughed too….sometimes in derision, sometimes in scorn and sometimes, in pure, unbridled mirth. My take is that the Bible didn’t record His laughter because with Jesus, mirth and rejoicing were an everyday occurrence while His tears were highlighted because that’s the only time it ever happened with Him! The best argument of all however that drives home to me that God has a sense of humour for sure, is from life itself – how else do you explain Murphy’s Laws people???

In Philippians, Paul exhorts us to ‘Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!’. Why not through humour then? A well-told joke, sharp and ready wit, a gentle satirical nip can chase the gloom away and rejuvenate us to keep living the kind of joyous Christian existence that our Lord expects from us. So what are you waiting for? Let the miracle of humour be born in you again and may silver peals of laughter ring out the birth tidings!

Jesus on your Doorstep...

One book of the Bible that I sneaked looks at frequently in my teens, but never studied seriously, was King Solomon's Song of Songs. Long, idyllic Sunday afternoons while the whole neighbourhood took a siesta was the appropriate time for me to read love poetry. The stillness of the afternoon, the baby blue clouds, the very slight breeze sighing through the trees in the backyard and the chirps and coos of the birds in them will forever remain associated with the Book of Songs in my mind.

What a romantic book it seemed to me...better than even the thousands of slim Mills and Boon volumes that teenage girls my age devoured for breakfast, lunch and dinner! A handsome king, rich and mighty falls in love with a shepherdess, a dark but comely lass, who toils with her hands and is no match for the refined, smooth-skinned ladies of the king's court. And yet it she that the King loves and pines to make His own.

It was much later that I discovered why such sensual romance was part of the Holy Bible....that this was more than just a human love story.....that the Song of songs is an exquisite allegory for the love relationship we share with Christ.

In one memorable chapter, the maiden demurs to open the door for her lover who comes seeking her at night because she's half-asleep and can't be bothered to arise and dress again. The hesitation passes as the clouds of sleep clear and she realises that he is gone. Frantic, she runs around a darkened city, seeking him, calling him by name, only to be beaten and harassed by the night watchmen........in her own words, "she is faint with love" and yearns to be reunited with her royal lover.

Lovely setting....and to me, very remniscent of Revelations 3:20 - Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me".....does the similarity strike you?

The Lord stands at the door of our hearts today, a passionate lover, waiting for us to let Him in.....do we hesitate to seize the chance to entertain the most honourable of guests? Does He turn around and walk away slowly, full of disappointment? Do we seek Him then, maybe way too late?

Reader, be advised: Jesus knocks today at the door of you heart......will you let Him in and enjoy His love in the midst of great rejoicing, or will you turn Him away unanswered? The choice is yours.....