March 8 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Although it sounds a little odd to us, every time the Lord is laughing, His people are in a serious predicament. If your friend laughed at you when you were in trouble, would that go over well? So why is God laughing?

God’s laughter is in response to the question, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed.” The psalmist watches how the nations scheme and plot. He sees his own people questioning the authority of the king set over them by the Lord. The author of this psalm wonders out loud, “What is the purpose of all this meaningless plotting and scheming?”

The Lord anointed His king on Zion, His holy hill, to rule with justice and righteousness. Satan, in the meantime, is doing everything he possibly can to tear down the kingdom of God, to break down the work of the coming Messiah. The devil wants to destroy David's kingdom from without and within, to prevent the coming of King Jesus.

In contrast to what he sees, the psalmist is not restless or in a rage because he hears the laughter of the Lord echo through the skies. For the plan of the Lord cannot be broken at any time by anyone. That’s why God’s laughter will be heard again! Herod makes a cunning attempt to destroy the Messiah by killing the children in Bethlehem. Once again Satan does everything in his power to get rid of the Christ-child. Pontius Pilate condemns the Anointed King to die on a cross. But God laughs! All plans and plots to stop the work of Christ are meaningless.

Realizing he is defeated, Satan is in a rage and he goes about like a roaring lion. He plots and schemes and forms a coalition with the nations and false religion. But the Lord laughs because every anti-Christian effort will fail. Satan tries to break down the work of God by sowing division in the church and by confusing people with false doctrine. But we can rest assured. The presence of Christ, through His Spirit, guarantees that God’s plan with His church will be completed. There is good reason for godly laughter even as we face trials and trouble!