Psalm 59

There was something in this psalm that reminded me of a scene from the great classic movie The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy had just landed in Oz, her house falling on (and killing) The Wicked Witch of the East. As Dorothy began to explore the strange world she had landed in, The Good Witch of the North came for a visit. They were both interrupted by the arrival of The Wicked Witch of the West who wanted to know how The Wicked Witch of the East had died. When she found out, she began to make all sorts of terrible threats. But, with a wave of her hand, The Good Witch of the North laughed: “Aha ha ha, rubbish! You have no power here! Be gone, before somebody drops a house on you!”

In this psalm, David began as he has so many times already—describing the men who are hunting him down with their evil schemes. He says they lie in wait, conspiring against him, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city. They concoct evil plans, just waiting for an opportunity to destroy David.

So, have you got the image of these men, planning, scheming, doing everything they can to craft the perfect evil storm? You get the idea that they are putting their hearts and souls into this deviousness, spending their energies night and day to fulfill their plans. And what does God do? “But you laugh at them, Lord; you scoff at all those nations.” (vs 8)

God laughs. The evil men have put all this time, energy, and effort into carrying out their schemes, but God sweeps it all away with a laugh: “Aha ha ha, rubbish! You have no power here!”

God has the last laugh. Evil may appear to reign for a time on this Earth, but God is still in charge; He is still on His heavenly throne, and there is no way that evil can ultimately gain the upper hand over love. Love always wins. Always.

Usually, when we say that somebody has the last laugh, it has a negative connotation—such as revenge or retribution. That’s not what I mean at all when I say that God gets the last laugh. He doesn’t triumph over His enemies with violence and revenge. Actually, He triumphs over them with love. (That may have been something that David still needed to learn.) Paul explains how that works in Romans: “To the contrary, ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’” (Rom 12:20)

It is no coincidence that kindness paid to an evil person is like burning coals of fire and God is described in Scripture as a consuming fire. (Heb 12:29) God gets the last laugh because He is love, and love never ends. It can’t be destroyed or overcome. It laughs in the face of evil and keeps on coming.

No scheme of evil men can confound or destroy God. He has the last laugh.