Tickling God

Has anyone played an April Fool’s prank on you today? If you’re reading this early in the morning, maybe you can beat them to the punch and catch them off-guard. I always appreciate a day that’s dedicated to silliness. But then, I’m one of those people who enjoys laughing; finding the humor in most circumstances has gotten me through tough times in my life. It’s also gotten me into trouble at times. Especially when I’m in a situation where laughter is completely inappropriate, and if I get to giggling, I just can’t stop. The fact that I shouldn’t be laughing just makes it funnier to me.

I wonder if Sarah felt that way when she heard that, as a dried up old woman, she would be giving birth. It was so ridiculous that she burst out laughing. Even though God was promising that her deepest longing would come to pass, she thought it sounded silly and she couldn’t control herself. The thing that bothers me about this story is that when she laughed and the Lord heard her, she denied it. She was ashamed of her laughter. Why couldn’t she have said, “Yes, Lord, I laughed because it’s so darn funny?”

The theologian Karl Barth wrote, “laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.” I believe that when we laugh, God is there. And I know beyond a doubt, from looking at some of the things and people God has created, that God has a sense of humor. I wonder why we don’t include more humor in our prayer lives. We’re not afraid to come before God with our tears, so why would we be afraid to come before God with our laughter?

Do you think God is ticklish? I like to believe that I tickle her on a regular basis.