God Sees All

Have you ever watched "American's Funniest Home Videos"...or a show like it? The premise is fairly simple - it's humans or animals caught on video in some wild situations, often of their own making, with hilarious consequences. (Sometimes.) 

I love someone who loves this show, and I love to hear her laugh, so I end up watching more than I would on my own. One of the things that I wrestle with when watching these home videos is that I can often see what's coming before the person in the video apparently does. 

You can only put a ladder so precariously against a table before you're certain it will slide out from under you. You can only slam a door so hard in the snow before the whole powdery white contents of the roof come crashing down on you. You can only forget to put the car in park so many times. 

Know what I mean? 

And yet, I laugh. I laugh when it happens. I do. I see it coming, I know what's about to happen, I mumble a "you idiot" under my breath, I offer much-needed advice from my living room just before the moment of disaster, and then I laugh anyway. I just can't help myself. 

Neither can God. 

Psalm 37 tells us that God laughs at the wicked because He sees what's coming. He knows what's going to happen to the wicked man, and the wicked man hasn't even dreamt it in his wildest imagination (or his worst nightmare) yet. 

God watches the wicked man set his ladder up against the table. God watches the ill-tempered woman slam the door. God watches the unfaithful neglect to set their parking brake. God watches us in the silly mistakes we make, too confident in our own ability, too self-righteous, too self-confident....wicked...and He laughs. 

He sees it coming. He knows what's about to happen. He's shouting from his couch, "Don't do that! Think this through!" He might even mumble a few "you fool"s under His breath from time to time (or often...I don't know. This seems like a common phrase in the Gospels). And then, He laughs. 

He laughs because it's so obvious, so foolish, so plain to any eye that's watching and yet, we, the wicked, are so oblivious, so over-confident, so certain that it can't happen to us...and God laughs. 

There are those who think this sounds cruel, that God would laugh. I admit that sometimes, when I'm watching the home videos, I feel a little cruel. I mean, how could I not? And yet, there's nothing too cruel about it, honestly, because I know that everyone in the video that I'm watching is okay. Nobody was seriously hurt. They don't show videos like that. 

And I think that's why God can laugh. He knows how things work out. He knows what's coming next. He knows how it all comes together. So He can laugh at our foolishness and folly, knowing we're getting what we deserve but also knowing that in the end, it's okay. It's gonna be okay. 

He already promised that much.