When God Makes You Laugh

Monday, December 19, 2022

Then God said to Abraham, “Regarding Sarai, your wife—her name will no longer be Sarai.  From now on her name will be Sarah.  And I will bless her and give you a son from her!  Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations.  Kings of nations will be among her descendants.”  Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief.  “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought.  “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?”   Genesis 17:15-17

There are those times when God unveils a blessing that’s just too good.  Scripture records the kind of laughter Abraham experienced as unbelief.  That’s very different from being known as the father of the faithful.  But, in this case, it’s somewhat understandable.  Abraham’s heart had hungered so long for the reality of the promise God had made to him, yet he and Sarai had never been parents together.  They were well-past such things.  Now he was a hundred, and his bride was 90.  Was God unaware nursing homes aren’t equipped with maternity wards?  I can just see the smirk forming at the corners of Abram’s lips, picturing himself signing-up for Lamaze classes down at the VFW.  It seemed like a cruel joke to play on an old man.  For decades he’d hoped and been patient.  Now, when all that hope seemed a mere frustration, was God just messing with Abram’s mind? 

Rewinding the video to an earlier time, Abram had never smiled at the hard things before.  There was that moment when God said:  Pack your bags, Abe; bring Sarai and all your stuff…got something I want to show you.  Abraham looked at the horizon beckoning, and just took the first step…not much of a miracle. 

But  God asking him to believe in becoming a dad when he was already on Social Security…this was just too much a fantasy.  How could he NOT laugh?  Scripture tells us Sarai also laughed over that incredible idea, but 9 months later there was a cradle in their bedroom, and the fulfillment of God’s Word meant diapers, and a whole new way of thinking about this life of faith to which God had called them.  What a ride!

For You Today  

Have your prayers gone unanswered?  Are there some things you’ve hoped for that no other person on earth knows about, but have been almost daily in your prayers?  Does it seem too good to be true that God might be telling you to hang-in with Him a little bit longer…because His promises are certain? 

And what if it happened?  What would it be like to have God make you laugh…today?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

   An Uncomfortable Answer from the Whirlwind and The School of Suffering and Unanswered Prayer

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Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©