Divine Humor

"Exalt the LORD our God and worship at His footstool; Holy is He." -Psalm 99:5

This summer I take summer classes here at Moody before heading home in mid-June. It's the first summer I've been here and will likely be the last for practical reasons. It's been enjoyable to take advantage of cheap books sales in the library, getting to sit in on Pastor's conference and hear John Piper and soon John MacArthur along with the free book giveaways that us minority of students are able to join in on. One of the biggest blessings has been the Lord's provision in my being able to stay with a friend from school. His family has been so hospitable and provided me with everything I'll need and more as they've catered to my eating preferences with all generosity and sincerity. Today however I have made a grievous error. This summer class I'm taking has kept me up rather late. I have little time to anything other than eat and read. I haven't even been able to set aside a reasonable prayer time these past couple days and am in fact sacrificing to write even this blog. This is something I must do however. As I have spoken of being sleepy in class because of how late I've stayed up I've joked of the "nap spirits" tempting me to take a nap. A few hours ago a tried to counter that joke with something positive in saying the "Holy coffee" helped me to stay awake for classes today. I then took it a step further and tried to make a closer connection as I changed it to the "holy coffee spirit."

My friend shortly afterward entered my room and kindly explained the offensive nature of my joke to him, his brother also in the room, and potentially his father. After he left the Lord really showed how I may have spat in the face of my friend with this statement and even worse... does this reflect the degree of my view of God Himself? I understand that we are more tolerant of humor today in Christian culture... especially in America. As I approach this topic I tell you that I look at it sensitively and not through the lens of legalism, but from the purest motives. I immediately am flashed back to a time when I made a joke about biblical interpretation with my ex-girlfriend in the car one day and how she verbally expressed her frustration with me at this. How high is my view of God? How high is your view of God? I ask myself and you whoever may read this. I am immediately reminded of the jokes that often hover the dorm hallways at my own Bible college, the interest in Mark Driscoll and his sense of humor, a joke I was told by a full time evangelist that eluded to profanity that he told precisely because he felt comfortable telling me (why was he comfortable?!?!), etc. I look at these things and am forced by the Holy Spirit to ask myself, "How high is my view of God?"

Over the past few years I have wrestled much with these things. What is appropriate to laugh at? What is appropriate to say? Maybe I'm still wrestling and maybe I can't give you a bullet pointed list of answers to these questions. I know for certain I don't have the time here and now to do so. I do however at least raise the question. How high did the apostles view God? How high did the psalmists view God? The language of Scripture is not there for quaint devotional reading and quotable paper weights on our desks at work. Imagine the multitudes spoken of in Revelation surrounding the throne in worship all in unison saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy." Are we saying that here? We often use "every knee will bow" evangelistically, but are our own knees bowed? Will we experience shame when we bow before the Lord in His holy dwelling place as we are reminded of all the times our words and thoughts didn't match what we where now doing? There was a time in my life where I would tell myself to lighten up if I read my own blog today. The closer I come to God however I can see that genuine worship must maintain a high view of God. Everyday life is worship. Are we kneeling at His footstool or trying to pull up our own comfortable chair and casually put up our own feet on the stool of the one who created them?