The Right Kind of Laugh
Thanks be to the God that helps our unbelief!
I am still feasting on a bible study a while back that explored the faith of Abraham and Sarah regarding Isaac, their miracle baby. The remarkable journey of faith in Sarah was well-illuminated by the chosen verses (Gen. 18:9-15; 21:1-8). How from inside the tent she heard that divine visitor prophesy that she would bear Abraham's child, and she laughed to scorn the very idea. How far she was then from biblical standard for faith.
Sarah's confidence in the promise that had made (for example, in Abraham's conversation with God in Gen. 17) was as dried up as her womb. The words of this guest from off the plains were patently ludicrous, she thought. "That ship has passed," we would say colloquially. Now bearing a child was fantasy… every object reality argued against it.
But look how God refused to leave her in unbelief! The visitor upbraided her for laughing, and when she—embarrassed—tried to deny it, He gave her no "wiggle room." The Holy Ghost is still doing this work today. Ever let a careless word of doubt escape, to have it quickly challenged by a concerned brother- or sister-in-Christ? Ever harbored a faithless thought and then opened your bible to see it sternly rebuked in the pages of scripture? I've even uttered some discomposed comment and had my then-six-year-old son chastise me by saying, "Don't worry, Daddy. It'll be all right!" The Spirit never tires of guiding us back in line when we stray from the faith-walk, and He will use a variety of methods to do so!
The end of the matter is that Sarah bore her child, and had occasion not only to laugh in joy, but to acknowledge the irony. "God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me." Isaac's very name, meaning "he laughs," was a reminder of this faux pas. But it also a reminder of how Sarah had been shocked from unbelief to faith when her laugh was heard and answered.
I am still feasting on a bible study a while back that explored the faith of Abraham and Sarah regarding Isaac, their miracle baby. The remarkable journey of faith in Sarah was well-illuminated by the chosen verses (Gen. 18:9-15; 21:1-8). How from inside the tent she heard that divine visitor prophesy that she would bear Abraham's child, and she laughed to scorn the very idea. How far she was then from biblical standard for faith.
Sarah's confidence in the promise that had made (for example, in Abraham's conversation with God in Gen. 17) was as dried up as her womb. The words of this guest from off the plains were patently ludicrous, she thought. "That ship has passed," we would say colloquially. Now bearing a child was fantasy… every object reality argued against it.
But look how God refused to leave her in unbelief! The visitor upbraided her for laughing, and when she—embarrassed—tried to deny it, He gave her no "wiggle room." The Holy Ghost is still doing this work today. Ever let a careless word of doubt escape, to have it quickly challenged by a concerned brother- or sister-in-Christ? Ever harbored a faithless thought and then opened your bible to see it sternly rebuked in the pages of scripture? I've even uttered some discomposed comment and had my then-six-year-old son chastise me by saying, "Don't worry, Daddy. It'll be all right!" The Spirit never tires of guiding us back in line when we stray from the faith-walk, and He will use a variety of methods to do so!
The end of the matter is that Sarah bore her child, and had occasion not only to laugh in joy, but to acknowledge the irony. "God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me." Isaac's very name, meaning "he laughs," was a reminder of this faux pas. But it also a reminder of how Sarah had been shocked from unbelief to faith when her laugh was heard and answered.
© 2024 Created by Raliegh Jones Jr..
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