Isn't It Ironic?

Ironic: Both coincidental and contradictory in a humorous or poignant and extremely improbable way.

Some people say that we live in the age of irony. A time when we pay more attention to the ironic than the truthful. I hope not.

In 1996, Alanis Morissette recorded her hit song, "Ironic". If you remember the words, it is amazing how little authentic irony appeared in the piece. There is nothing ironic about rain on your wedding day. That probably should be defined as simple, bad luck. Now, if you were marrying a weatherman and he set the date and it rained on your wedding day, that would be ironic... in a sick, humorous kind of way.

I always appreciate my conversations with Susan after our devotions together. There is nothing ironic about that statement. However, we began talking about irony in the Bible one morning this week. There is more of it than you might think.

It seems ironic to me that Psalm 80 is set to a sweet-sounding tune like "Lilies of the Covenant" and still includes the lines: "O Lord God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful." (Psalm 80:4,5) Writing a psalm with that content I would have been tempted to also write a melody entitled, "The Iron Hand of God."

It seems ironic to me that in the moment Paul's spiritual eyes were opened, his physical ones were closed (Acts 9:8). Of course, that happens to more of us than we might at first realize. Some of us were very aware of current philosophies and political movements until we met Jesus. Afterwards, we became comparably blind to those things as we followed after our Master. Some people kept a record of every hurt or slight they ever experienced before they came to know Jesus. Afterward, they couldn't have been bothered with those small things.

Maybe we all should become a little blind when our eyes are opened by Him.

It seems to be the epitome of irony that where Jesus was crucified there was also a garden (John 19:41). How do you combine something so terrible with something so beautiful? The Bible does it well.

Amy Carmichael, writing about God's presence during illness and pain, stated, "The Bible is amazing. Continually things that differ as much as things can, are bound together by golden chains." I like that word picture. The least become the greatest. The last become first. The mourners are filled with joy. That which seems at first to be so ironic becomes a simple
statement of truth.