He who sits in the heavens laughs with derision at our vain plots, the psalmist says (Ps. 2:1–4). The laughter is derisive, Niebuhr comments, “having the sting of judgment upon our vanities in it.” Our situation is laughable, but in God’s laughter, which is humbling, there is a warmth and empathy that conveys another possibility: forgiveness. “If the laughter is truly ironic,” Niebuhr continues, “it must symbolize mercy as well as judgment.”36
