Lately, I’ve been thinking about whether laughter is part of how we reflect God’s character. Like, a lot of our deeper emotions, grief, joy, compassion, righteous anger, seem rooted in who He is. I wonder if he laughs? He must understand it since he gave it to us.
Humor usually works because it surprises us, and God knows everything. So what does that even look like for Him? Maybe His humor might be less about surprise and more about delight, just enjoying the creativity and weird little moments built into a world He made on purpose.
And if that’s true, it makes God feel less distant, more present in the ordinary, everyday stuff.
You don’t have to pray alone. Have your prayer submitted to the Holy Land as well as churches, monasteries, and prayer groups worldwide who will lift your intentions to God and pray on your behalf.
From the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to sacred sites across the globe, your prayer will be shared and remembered.
Yitzhak (Isaac) literally means “he laughs.” God tells old Abraham and Sarah they’ll have a son. They both laugh, Sarah in disbelief, Abraham falling on his face. God says name him Isaac anyway. Sarah later says, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me” (Genesis 21:6).
Elton Trueblood’s book The Humor of Christ (1960s) nails it. His kid cracked up at the log-in-the-eye bit (Matthew 7), while adults missed the joke for centuries.
God wove laughter right into the story from the start.
Look at creation: platypuses, elephant seals. No real survival need for those goofy designs, yet God made them and called it good. And parading animals past Adam to name? Maybe it was to make him laugh before Eve showed up. Warm thought.
Proverbs 8:30-31: “playing before him all the while, playing over the whole earth, having delight with human beings.”
I think he probably has a sense of humor. It won’t be laughing at a knock knock joke or at the expense of someone else but he gave us delight and happiness and I believe he feels these things himself.