Genesis 18:9-15

2007.Jun.04 01:29

Laughter

Read Genesis 18:9-15 | Full Chapter

Then they said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will be sure to return to you at this time next year. And your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old. They had lived many years. The way of women had stopped for Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “Will I have this joy after my husband and I have grown old?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘How can I give birth to a child when I am so old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” But Sarah said, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
(Genesis 19:9-15, NLV)

And God says, “Hey, y’all are gonna’ have a son”. And they’re like “uh, news flash, we’re geezers”. Again.

Trivia question: What percentage of the book of Genesis is about God promising Isaac to Sarah and Abraham? Because it seems like a lot. For a couple that exhibits a great deal of faith throughout their lives (and some failures), Jehovah seems to belabor this point. And Abraham and Sarah do reveal that their faith is not total, by having an increasingly hard time taking this seriously. What with prior discussions with Jehovah, Abraham seems to have accepted this promise. As far as I can tell, he simply accepts this time. Sarah, having not been around during Abraham’s most recent discussion with Jehovah, laughs. Hey, this is crazy. This is a by-no-other-means-than-God situation.

God–or a messenger of God, but I think actually God–makes the point that this is not impossible with Jehovah. Sarah, in her fear, claims she did not laugh. A moment before, she had said that having a child would be a joy, but she quickly turns to fear. Instead of being honest with God about her doubt, and her joy, she lies due to her fear. But God corrects by stating that she did laugh, whether she admit it or not.

This then is a situation of great, but incomplete faith. Sarah might have laughed and then explained her laughter instead of trying to hide it. She might then have chosen to believe regardless of the apparent absurdity. One way or another, she shortly does believe, and I think quite possibly before actually becoming pregnant. But in the immediate, she lets fear get in the way of letting her faith chase off her doubt. And for what? God does not smite her. In fact, he seems to simply leave it at ‘Yes, you did laugh’.

So, this is in part about faith overcoming fear, and specifically fear of punishment from Jehovah. How silly it seems from the outside to not act in faith just because earlier I had doubt, or even because I was disobedient, and yet I’ve done so. Letting guilt disrupt faith: not in God’s plan. But perfecting faith is in his plan, and that sometimes means taking those who are walking in a lot of faith and pushing them harder that seems right in order to grow them that next step. Something I’ll probably write a lot about when I get to Job…in say, forty years…