Speaker: Bonnie Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  Matthew 3:17, KJV 

Does God have a sense of humor?  Does He smile? Does He laugh with joy?  Pastor, writer and editor, Sherwood Wirt said “Yes!” to all three questions. Wirt was convinced that God created His children to have fellowship with Him. He believed God is a good Father, not a bully with a whip, and not a judge who notes every transgression.

Reverend Wirt, however, was not always of that opinion.  He grew up in a Christian home but quickly shed all of the Christian influence at university.  Canoeing down the Yukon River in Alaska with a companion, Wirt found an old abandoned cabin.  There among a number of moldy, left-behind books, was a Bible which Wirt took with him.  He tried to read it, but finding it depressing, threw it in the river. So much for that.

He earned a Ph.D. in English, studied the classics and was actually the last person to interview professor and writer, C.S. Lewis, before Lewis died. After a stint in the military, Wirt ended up as the pastor of a church, but his experience preparing messages was more of a drudgery than a joy.  Wirt’s biggest problem was that He was talking about a God He did not know and certainly One in whom he did not believe.

His “about-face” came when he was invited to watch a film of the evangelist, Billy Graham.  Wirt met Jesus Christ, and the encounter forever changed his life.  One of the 28 books he wrote, one has the interesting title: The God Who Smiles.

Wirt contended that two passages in the Bible show that God smiles—yes, really smiles!  Do you remember the voice that came from heaven when Jesus was baptized by John?  God spoke audibly and said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”  The Greek word which we translate “well pleased” is from eudokesa.  “Allow me to ask you,” said Wirt, “when one finds delight, what does one do? Smile? Usually; and since the Bible says we are all made in the image and likeness of the heavenly Father, I dare to suggest that God Himself at that point was smiling.” The second passage which he believes also proved his point is at the transfiguration, when God says, “This is my beloved Son. Hear Him!’

Search the Bible and you will find other verses like Psalms 119:135, the New Living Translation puts it: Look on me with love.  Anyone who has ever been in love knows that you can’t keep a smile off your face when you see that special recipient of your affection.  Nor is there a mother anywhere in the world who can keep from smiling when she looks at her baby.  Who puts that smile on her face?

When Aaron in the old Testament was told by God through Moses to bless his sons and all the people of Israel, God gave him these words to use:

 

May the Lord bless you and protect you.

May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

 

Maybe our idea of an unsmiling God tells us more about ourselves than it does about the God of the Bible–the Creator of the Universe who dreamed up neon-colored tropical fish, electrifying sunsets and fragrant flowers, then sat back and declared it all good!

You may believe in an unsmiling God if you chose, but if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are the child of a great God who unquestionably smiles when He looks down and likes what He sees in your life.  Reverend Wirt got it right.  God does smile.

Resource reading:  Numbers 6:22-27