Laughter is not a reliable sign of joy or of things going well. Solomon spent much of Ecclesiastes 2 seeking meaning through pleasure, including music, drink, building, and sex, and concluded that laughter is madness, since the pursuit of pleasure has no lasting meaning. Proverbs adds that laughter and pleasure often hide grief and sorrow, and it pictures fools laughing on the road to destruction, having spent their lives on meaningless folly. People also laugh at evil: laughter can feed on another's suffering, on sarcastic put-downs, or on watching someone who was riding high finally get his due. Such laughter springs from something evil and is neither good nor righteous. Much of the modern craze for constant entertainment is an attempt to deaden the pain of disappointment, illness, and a troubling world. Laughter and happiness belong to what people chase after and produce, but biblical joy is a different thing. It is a God-given calm cheerfulness and sense of well-being, a hope-filled attitude that does not mean roaring with laughter. It does not depend on anything earthly, and it is inseparable from godly love and a relationship with God. That relationship, not laughter or circumstances, enables believers to bear difficulties with cheerful confidence.

Laughter and mirth pursued as an end in themselves are empty. Solomon tested mirth and pleasure to the hilt, with wine, wealth, and every desire gratified, and concluded, "I said of laughter, 'Madness!' and of mirth, 'What does it accomplish?'" Everything done without God is vanity and grasping for the wind. The world's idea of fun is a deception: the word "fun" derives from an old word meaning to hoax or fool, and it did not take on the sense of amusement and gaiety until the 1700s. Youth today equate fun with an edge of rebellion, risk, and illicit behavior, and left to themselves this ends in addiction, disease, and shame. Folly is joy only to one lacking discernment, so fun and joy are not synonymous, unless the fun is clean and pure. Lasting joy and enjoyment come from God, who gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the one who is good in His sight. Young people should rejoice in their youth, but with the knowledge that God will judge their actions, that youth is fleeting, and that they should remember their Creator early. Removing sorrow from the heart means ridding it of the lusts that bring grief later. Keeping God's law makes a person truly happy, and fun that follows obedience is untainted by guilt, remorse, or shame.

Laughter pursued for its own sake is empty. Solomon tested mirth through years of self-indulgent entertainment, work, and wine, and concluded of laughter, "Madness!" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?" In Hebrew the pairing of madness and mirth indicates not mere foolishness but moral perversity. The experiment failed because pleasure sought for pleasure's sake is self-centered, and that cannot work in a universe centered on a selfless God. Laughter and mirth are like soap bubbles that burst and leave only useless scum. Proverbs 14:13 shows why: even in laughter the heart may sorrow, and the end of mirth may be grief, so laughter can mask a bitter reality, with people laughing outside and tearing themselves up within. Solomon was not against cheerfulness, but his purpose was worldly, and things were never meant to give lasting fulfillment. Today's entertainment binge offers the same temptation, and Paul warns that people in the end-time will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Wisdom is far better than the foolishness of mirth. Genuine enjoyment comes from selfless pleasure within a relationship with God, whose Spirit produces love and joy. God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the person who is good in His sight, and anyone who cannot find enjoyment in life should ask whether God is at the center.