When God Laughs
We lived in the tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for many years. The Luxembourgers have a good sense of humor and many of their jokes are based on the size of their country—36 miles wide and 51 miles from bottom to top. (58k x 82k)
According to one story Luxembourg was once enraged with China and decided to declare war. The Luxembourg colonel (their highest rank) called the Chinese general who was his counterpart and informed him that if excuses weren’t forthcoming, the Grand Duchy was going to declare war.
The Chinese general laughed because he thought it was a joke. “You’ve got 500 men in your army. We’ve got millions!”
“This is very serious,” the Luxembourg leader assured him. “We’ll bomb your country back to the Stone Age. We’ll destroy your land!”
At the other end of the telephone line the Chinese general was a bit taken aback at the Luxembourger’s assurance but told him, “We’re not apologizing.”
“You’ve got until noon tomorrow. After that there will be total war.”
That night and the next morning tension hung heavily over the planet, as the world waited in suspense to see what would happen. Then at ten minutes until twelve noon the phone rung in China. It was the Luxembourg colonel. “We’ve decided not to make war on you.”
“Why not?” his counterpart asked.
“Well, we got to thinking. We don’t have room to put all the prisoners of war in our country.”
We smile but I wonder if God doesn’t feel the same way as the Chinese in this story when he hears some of the world’s tiny atheists ranting against Him. Christopher Hitchens babbles in his book title: “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.”
Richard Dawkins probably made millions with his “God Delusion” book. But even many atheists are embarrassed by some of these ravings which are more emotional than the intellectual arguments they purport to be.
Aren’t you worried Lord? Don’t you think these people are going to ruin your reputation? Cause people to turn away from you?
Well, the Lord doesn’t exactly yawn, but it’s not the first time He’s heard stuff like this. After all, the same spirit has been inspiring attacks on God for eons. So what does He do?
Psalms 2:2
The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the LORD
and against his Anointed One.
3 “Let us break their chains,” they say,
“and throw off their fetters.”
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
Doesn’t seem that the Lord is too worried does it? If God’s not worried about it why should I be? It seems to me that He’s even loves these people who loudly denounce Him. He could easily crush them so there must be some reason he doesn’t respond in kind.
“Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.
“But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.”(2 Pet. 3:8-10, The Message)
God even loves those who speak against Him. That’s why He’s installed His King, His Messiah Jesus on his holy hill (Ps. 2:6). He wants men to come to Him to be saved.
Sometimes we have to answer foolish people but often we just need to ignore their ignorance and try to win people to the Lord. He’s real, even if millions deny it.
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Hummm …
“It is a safe thing to trust Him to fulfill the desires which He creates”
— Amy Carmichael