Blessed is the people of whom this is true; blessed is the people whose God is the LORD. – Psalm 144:15

Today's Scripture Reading (July 29, 2022): Psalm 144

What does God look like when you think of him? And while we are there, exactly how does he act? Is God a stern taskmaster, demanding that our lives measure up to his standard? Or maybe he is an absent-minded Grandfather who doesn't quite remember your name but knows he loves us anyway. Or is he something else? Regardless of what our image of God might be, it is likely very inaccurate. And one reason for our inaccuracies is that God is so completely different from us, and yet we are likely to describe him in very human terms. It is not just with God that we have this experience. Everything non-human within our circles of influence tends to be described in very human terms. Our pets become our children (fur babies). We define other animals, giving them human characteristics and describing them as generous or forgiving, stern or even mean. We provide human attributes to very inhuman things. And that is fine, as long as we understand that that is what we are doing.

I have often said that I love to read things written by the famous atheist Richard Dawkins. Actually, it can sometimes be a little frustrating. I would love to sit down with Dawkins and have a conversation. Maybe he would be surprised to hear me say that I also don't believe in the God against whom he writes. It is not that I don't believe in God, just not the one that he describes in his writing. Sometimes it feels like he sets up a straw God purposefully designed to fall to his arguments. And sometimes, it is very simple to set up a God that would be easy to knock down. In the hands of Dawkins, our God becomes a being with a glass jaw. And I would do the same thing to his God.

But have you ever pictured God as a happy God? Have you ever wondered if maybe God is sitting up in heaven cracking jokes with the angels? I mean, if we are created in the image of God, and we love to relax with jokes (well, some of us anyway), maybe God would too? I know it is a bit of a stretch, but it is still fun to think about the possibility.

David says, "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord." We should recognize that the word "blessed" is often a word we use as a more spiritual term that means "happy." So maybe another translation of David's words would be, "Happy are the people whose God is the Lord." Perhaps the next question is why they would be happy. And the most logical explanation might be because our God is happy. He is neither a taskmaster nor an absent-minded professor; he is, well, happy. And this is not an off-the-wall interpretation. It seems to be the very one that Charles Spurgeon arrives at as he interprets this passage. Spurgeon says, "Those who worship the happy God become a happy people." And he is right because happiness tends to be contagious. So, let me welcome you into the presence of the "happy God." And as you move through your day, may he continually bring a smile to your face.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 145