Scripture Reading: Genesis 18:9-15
At eighty-nine years old, a barren Sarah sits in a tent and listens as God tells her ninety-nine year old husband, Abraham, that she will give birth to a son. After decades of waiting, God seems to be promising the impossible. Both are well past their child producing and child-bearing years. So, Sarah laughs. Not a laugh of joy or excitement, but a scoffing laugh of disbelief. Having given up on the possibility of motherhood, Sarah laughs to herself and laughs at God.
Quietly, her laugh asks, “How can God have the audacity to make this promise now?” For nearly twenty-five years, God had promised them a child. For nearly thirteen years, God remained silent as they concocted a plan to produce an heir, Ismael, through Sarah’s maid, Hagar. But now, with hope as dried up as their bodies, God makes this proclamation. In the midst of Sarah’s doubts, God raised a probing question that remains relevant today, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
Like Sarah, we may utter silent laughs of doubt and frustrations as we wait on our hopes to be fulfilled and our dreams to come true. Like her, our laugh may be one bitterness as we wait on the longings of our hearts. Perhaps it is a home, a job, a spouse, or a child. Perhaps it is justice, opportunity, healing, deliverance or peace. The laughter expresses our doubt, pain and anger at God for not coming through when we had hoped to see our hopes materialize.
For Sarah, that bitterness and doubt evaporated when she gave birth to Isaac. Sarah exclaimed, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me (Genesis 21:6).” Sarah’s pain and reproach was vindicated finally, in a way clearly ordained by God alone. In the end, God gave Sarah a joyful reason to laugh, far beyond anything she could have imagined.
Today, we may have a quiet laugh that is really a lament, designed to mask our doubts and fears. But the first laugh is not the last laugh. Some people say, “I’m not laughing at you, I laughing with you.” Keep the faith that a day is coming when The Almighty will give you a reason for joyful laughter, and will have that last laugh with you! God indeed has the last laugh.
