Click here to read Psalm 114-115 on BibleGateway.com
Admit it, you think sarcasm is funny. We try to hide behind our serious grown-up facades, but underneath our pretenses, we still have to stifle a laugh. But then we have all the good ole guilt. After all, if it’s that funny, it must be a sin of some sort. Take heart, good friends; here at Everyday Devotions we consider one of our primary reasons for existence is to point out all the times the Bible uses sarcasm. And if the Bible thinks it’s funny, it must be ok.
Psalm 114:5-6 includes these little gems:
Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Why, Jordan, did you turn back?
Why, mountains, did you leap like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
LET’S TRY THAT AGAIN
Typically, reading translated poetry is pretty pointless; you lose the rhythm and meter, lose any wordplay, rhyming, or structural awesomeness. Therefore, we must read these lines, as best we can, as the early readers may have. Ahem:
In your face, sea.
How do you like it now, Jordan?
And as for you mountains – don’t let the door hitcha on the way out.
The Psalmist is taunting the seemingly unassailable power of nature: the sea is impassable? God builds a 6 lane highway in one night; the river is flooding? No problem, we’ll just hold it back with my divine rubber band; the mountains are in your way? Here, let me flatten the hills and straighten the curves for you. God’s power is so much greater than what we see, that it brings out the inner 2-year old in the Psalmist. You can almost see him sticking his tongue out and dipping the mountains’ pigtails in the inkwell.
YOUR MOM GOES TO COLLEGE
It’s almost as if the Bible is reminding us of how silly our worries are. What about my debt? God has cattle on a thousand hills. What if something happens to my family? God is our father. What if the “wrong” person wins the next election? God says He is the King. All of our worries fade when we remember the ease with which God pushed aside the ocean and held back the river. It’s almost laughingly obvious.
So the next time a worry sneaks up on you, don’t just pull out the tried and true “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Break out your own inner sarcastic child:
I know you are but what am I, medical diagnosis.
Nice try, surprise bill.
Like I’m really scared, employment status.
See how fun this is?