Learn to Laugh with Jesus: Experience Joy with Him

Sometimes I laugh at the Bible and its crazy stories. Learning to read and digest the Bible on one’s own is sometimes one of the most difficult tasks a Christian takes on. The Bible is filled with extreme stories and occasionally we read a story that makes little or no sense to us.  I was reading Joshua and came upon such a story.  Before Joshua would allow the Israelites to go into the Promised Land and begin the process of claiming it for their own, he required each of the men to circumcise themselves. I really couldn’t help but laugh at this and shudder at the same time.

They had to do this to themselves. A haunting image, that. The translation I was reading at the time indicated that the men left the remains of this procedure in a mound and it was called the hill of…. well you get the picture.  Fortunately for the men, Joshua gave them time to heal before he led them into battle.

I was disgusted and amused.  I always try to see if the Lord is trying to tell me something when I read the Bible, but as a female, I felt that this scene could have nothing to do with me.  I put my Bible down and said my nightly prayers.  The scene kind of bothered me though.  It seemed barbaric and gross, to be honest.  And funny. I still laugh at how uncomfortable the whole story is.

So I told God that sometimes the Bible was pretty weird, and then (I actually said this) I defied him to show me what that whole scene was about. 

I then tried to fall asleep to no avail. I tossed and turned. I could not rest.  So I got up and went to my bookshelf to see if there was some remedy.

As I looked the bookshelf up and down, I hit upon a book called Understanding Your Bible.  As the incredibly spiritually mature person I am, I felt sure that this must be the most boring book on my shelf. Reading it would put me to sleep in no time!  I got back into bed and opened it to a random page in the middle.  I settled in expecting the words to swim before my eyes.  But God had other plans.

As it turned out, the chapter I chose randomly was an explanation of Joshua 6, the chapter I had just read.  It turns out that the metaphor behind the crude surgical procedure was one of circumcising the heart before one can enter into the promises of God.  The passage went on to tell me about how God must expose our hearts so that we can fully experience the joys He wants to set before us.  Or rather, we must expose our own hearts to Him. I still laugh at the story, but now I understand that behind even the strangest Biblical events lie metaphors that birth spiritual realities in us.

As it happens, I had recently undergone a season of deep repentance and healing.  I suddenly realized that this chapter was exactly where I was in my life.  I had circumcised my heart and was in some recovery and awaiting new instructions. Shortly thereafter, I embarked on an entirely different course in my life, one marked by truth and freedom to a degree that I had not yet known in my adult life.  My very own promised land.( And as it happened, I conquered all of the giants there, just like Joshua.) As I realized how exactly this somewhat graphic passage had to do with me and my life, that was when I felt God laugh.  When God laughs at us, it is in joy.  He laughs with us.

In that moment, I felt God’s humor, tolerance for my silly resistance, and joy at my finally understanding His intentions. 

This is one of my favorite memories with God; a moment of enjoying and being enjoyed.

The Westminster Confession of Faith states that “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  One of my primary revelations about God is that He intends us to enjoy Him and then in return, He enjoys us.  The next time you sit in a time of prayer and communion, invite the Lord to enjoy you.  Ask Him to help you enjoy Him. Learn to laugh with Him. If there is a lack of enjoyment in your spiritual life, could it be that you have somehow substituted religion for joy? Joy is the strength our heart, says the Bible. And to laugh with our God is the inheritance of His children, I believe.

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