{"id":1264,"date":"2014-07-16T19:30:34","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T19:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2014-07-12T19:43:45","modified_gmt":"2014-07-12T19:43:45","slug":"scripture-sometimes-i-have-to-laugh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/07\/scripture-sometimes-i-have-to-laugh.html","title":{"rendered":"Scripture: Sometimes, I Have to Laugh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of Arvind Balarman\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I once told someone that I find much humor in the Bible, that I even laughed sometimes, as I read it. She looked at me as if I’d spoken heresy, and mumbled, “I can’t imagine…”<\/p>\n

I didn’t mean that I was\u00a0making fun<\/em> of Scripture, but that there are some passages that seem, on the face of it, a bit absurd, or, when looked at deeper, reflect the foibles of we humans in the face of an all-knowing, all-powerful God.<\/p>\n

One example:<\/p>\n

Psalm 88 is described in my Bible (New American Version), as “A Despairing Lament.” Verse 2 is:<\/p>\n

“Lord, my God, I call out by day; \u00a0at night I cry aloud in your presence.”<\/p>\n

Certainly, the speaker is deepy troubled by something, and in despair, praying and praying to God about his or her problem. Haven’t we all been there at some point? But, the humor of it for me is Verse 3, when taken with Verse 2:<\/p>\n

“Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.”<\/p>\n

Now, I fully doubt that the Lord did not hear the calls and cries expressed in Verse 2. In fact, I think we can be very sure the Lord heard every, single one. The humor I find here is expressed in the oh-so-human response of the pray-er: He (or she) keeps pelting God with pleas, but is deaf to hearing God’s response because of the verbal salvo.<\/p>\n

Isn’t that so like we humans? We think that if we pray more, God will answer us exactly as we want him to. And in our praying and praying, we don’t take time to listen. We don’t even pick up on his subtle hints, his spiritual “call-waiting” beeps that let us know, yes, that he hears us and is responding.<\/p>\n

Yes, sometimes when I read Scripture, I shake my head and laugh. Because, reflected in those words and people of long ago, I so clearly see humannity today. I see myself.<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I once told someone that I find much humor in the Bible, that I even laughed sometimes, as I read it. She looked at me as if I’d spoken heresy, and mumbled, “I can’t imagine…” I didn’t mean that I was\u00a0making fun of Scripture, but that there are some passages that seem, on the face…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1030,1133,1134,96,223],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-being-human","tag-humor-in-scripture","tag-listening-to-god","tag-prayer","tag-praying"],"yoast_head":"\nScripture: Sometimes, I Have to Laugh - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/07\/scripture-sometimes-i-have-to-laugh.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scripture: Sometimes, I Have to Laugh - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I once told someone that I find much humor in the Bible, that I even laughed sometimes, as I read it. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1265,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions\/1265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}