The following is a chapter excerpt from Dylan DeMarsico’s upcoming book “The Happy Trinity”, to be released in the next few weeks!

“I was His constant delight, laughing and

playing in His presence. And how happy

I was with what He created—His wide

world and all His family of mankind!”

Proverbs 8:30-31 (TLB)

So far, we have made the rich discovery that in the presence of God there is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). The Hebrew word for fullness means “abundance” and “to the full.” When God expresses Himself, it comes from this place of abundant and overflowing joy.

But what is the sound of that expression? What does this overflow look like?

Laughter!

The living God is a God of laughter. Laughter is the sound or expression of joy. It is what happens when happiness overflows from within. Is it surprising then that God is a Father, Son, and Spirit who are abundant in laughter?

Meister Eckhart, a 14th century German theologian, was a Christian who gazed into the mystery of the Trinity. He discovered the divine fullness of joy and gave a metaphoric picture of the Trinity. He said, “In the heart of the Trinity the Father laughs and gives birth to the Son. The Son laughs back at the Father and gives birth to the Spirit. The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us!”

In the Beginning was Laughter

But what do the Scriptures say about this laughter? Where in the Bible can we find God laughing? Come with me to a glorious passage in Proverbs 8…

In this chapter we meet Wisdom, who describes what it was like to be with God at the creation of the world. We learn from other Scriptures that Wisdom is a personification of Christ. In the New Testament, Christ is directly called “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In this passage from Proverbs, Wisdom tells us what He and God were doing in the beginning of the earth’s construction:

When He marked out the foundations of

the earth, then I was beside Him, like a

master workman, and I was daily His

delight, rejoicing before Him always,

rejoicing in His inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

(Proverbs 8:30-31)

So here we see God the Son (Wisdom) with God the Father creating all things. This completely lines up with the rest of Scripture:

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God.

(John 1:1)

All things have been created through Him and for Him.

(Colossians 1:16)

In Proverbs 8, we see Christ as the delight of God, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the world and delighting in humans—us! Here’s the thing though: the Hebrew word for “rejoicing” really means something else. “Rejoicing” is a conservative translation.

The Hebrew word is sachaq, which means “to laugh” and “to play.”

It seems that some of the serious and mature Bible translators out there just couldn’t bring themselves to say that God was laughing and playing when He made the world. If God was laughing and playing, then there’s some theological seminary books that might need to be updated!

The Living Bible translates it more accurately than most translations. Here it is again, with some more context:

I was there when He made the blueprint

for the earth and oceans. I was always

at His side like a little child. I was His

constant delight, laughing and playing in

His presence. And how happy I was with

what He created – His wide world and all

His family of mankind!

(Proverbs 8:29-31 TLB)

Now that’s more like it! Let’s give a big round of applause to the translators of the Living Bible for having the guts to translate that passage correctly.

This passage teaches us that the Father, Son, and Spirit were laughing and playing as They created the universe. 

The picture portrayed is of the Father delighting and rejoicing in the Son as He laughs and plays before Him. In His laughter and play, God both purposely and spontaneously creates the earth, the oceans, the hills, the waters, men, women, zebras, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, pineapples, bumblebees, air, and everything else in the cosmos.

How have you imagined the creation of the world? For most people it is very vague. But the Scriptures offer us something so filled with life. The family of the Trinity was laughing, playing, rejoicing and delighting in one another as They speak forth this world.

Take a deep breath and realize that you are the product of Someone who laughs and plays. Maybe close the book and take a few more deep breaths and pray to your Father in heaven who knit you together in His loving laughter. Let any fear, shame, or guilt be swallowed up in His joy.

Truly, the world was birthed out of the laughter of God. The Trinity, in the fullness of Their joy, overflowed in laughter and… well, here we are. It is this kind of over- the-top joy and laughter that is God’s strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Yes, the joy of the Lord is His strength too! This is no mere Sunday School lesson. It’s this almighty and all-powerful laughter that contained the force to create all things.