GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 25~ ~ Psalm 56:8 ~ ~ “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?”

Psalm 126:2 ~ ~ “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

From the book, “We Shall See God”—sermons by the great Charles H. Spurgeon, with comments by Randy Alcorn.

Continuing from yesterday’s…..God Dries Our Tears:

Randy Alcorn:

Revelation 21:4 also speaks of God dealing with His people’s tears:  “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be ANY death; there will no longer be ANY mourning, or crying, or pain.”

This includes the tears of suffering over sin and death; the tears of oppressed people; the cries of the poor, the widow, the orphaned, the unborn, and the persecuted.  God will wipe away the tears of racial injustice.  Such crying shall be no more.

Spurgeon says, “I am convinced that we endure more sorrow from our sins than from God’s darkest providence.”  So true. God will indeed wipe away our tears, but He could not do so without first wiping away our sins.

But what about tears of JOY in heaven?  Can you imagine joy flooding your eyes as you meet Christ and as you’re reunited with loved ones?  Have you ever laughed so hard it brought tears to your eyes?  I think Christ will laugh with us, and His wit and fun-loving nature will be our greatest source of endless laughter.  Spurgeon writes, “I do believe, in my heart, that there may be as much holiness in a laugh as in a cry; and that sometimes, to laugh is the better of the two.”

Spurgeon speaks of life under the curse:  “We may forget to laugh, but we will always know how to weep.”  But when God stops the weeping, surely He will replace it with laughter.  Jesus said, “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.  Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.  Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you…Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.”  (Luke 6:21-23 NIV)

That we will laugh in heaven, then, is not a speculation;  it is Christ’s explicit promise.  Laughter is a reward for our present weeping.  Anticipating the laughter to come, Jesus says we should ”leap for joy” NOW.  Can you imagine someone leaping for joy in utter silence, without laughter?  Our present laughter serves as a foretaste of the great laughter that awaits us.

Spurgeon used his wit to provoke laughter in private and in public.  He said in one of his sermons, “If by a laugh I can make men see the folly of an error better than in any other way, they shall laugh.”

Where did humor originate? Not with people, angels, or Satan.  God created all good things, including humor.  If God didn’t have a sense of humor, we as His image bearers wouldn’t either.  That He has a sense of humor is evident in His creation.  Consider aardvarks and baboons.  Take a good look at a giraffe.  You have to smile, don’t you?  God made us to laugh and to love to laugh.  It’s therapeutic.  The new universe will ring with laughter.

The only laughter that won’t have a place in heaven is the sort that late-night comedians often engage in—laughter that mocks troubled people, makes light of human suffering, or glorifies immorality.  Jesus makes a sobering comment in Luke 6:25, in which He addresses not only heaven but also hell: 

“Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.  Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”  When will those who laugh now mourn and weep?  In the afterlife.

All those who have not surrendered their lives to God, who exploit and ignore the needy, who ridicule the unfortunate, and who flout God’s standards of purity will have all eternity to mourn and weep.  They will never laugh again.

One of Satan’s great lies is that God—and everything good—is joyless and humorless, while Satan—and evil—brings pleasure and satisfaction.  In fact, it’s Satan who is humorless.  Sin didn’t bring him joy; it forever stripped him of joy.  In contrast, envision Jesus with His disciples.  If we cannot picture Him teasing them and laughing with them, we need to reevaluate our understanding of the Incarnation.  We need a Biblical theology of humor that prepares us for an eternity of celebration and spontaneous laughter.

As Spurgeon says, we may sometimes forget to laugh here, but there will be no end to the laughter when we find our fulfillment in the presence and the promises of our God.  Cling to that blood-bought promise concerning our future in heaven:  WE WILL LAUGH.

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Ps 126:5  ..They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

Isaiah 54:10…For the mountains shall depart

And the hills be removed,

But My kindness shall not depart from you,

Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”

Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Romans 5:1….Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 14:11…“As I live, says the LORD,

Every knee shall bow to Me,

And every tongue shall confess to God.”

Ps 121:5…The LORD is your keeper;

The LORD is your shade at your right hand.

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