A Laughing Matter

The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Genesis 18:13-14, NIV

YEARS AGO, if you would have told me I’d have three kids across an eleven-year span, I would have laughed in your face. I have a habit of doing that—laughing at the absurd. Like Abraham’s wife, Sarah, in the book of Genesis.

Several years before we were parents, my husband and I bought our first house. While out walking with a friend one morning, she asked how I was feeling about our big purchase and what it meant to put down roots. I waxed poetic about one day becoming a mom, filling the house with memories, taking care of my little plot of earth, and watching my kids monkey around on play sets in the backyard.

But then we struggled to get pregnant. And during that time I wondered why my body felt so broken and whether my husband regretted his choice of me as his bride. I wrote in a tear-stained journal that I was laying down my dream of becoming a mom. It was dead to me.

When you find someone in the Bible who has gone through the same situation and had similar reactions, thoughts, and emotions, it speaks to you in an intimate way. You feel seen. Known. Cared for. You think, If God cared for her story, then He certainly cares for mine. This was Sarah to me.

As we learn from the book of Genesis, Sarah was way past childbearing age and never had children of her own. I am sure at some point she scrawled that her dream was dead. Because when she overheard God’s promise to Abraham that she would indeed have a baby in her old age, she laughed.

This reaction sounds about right. How often have I laughed in the face of faith?

And still God is gracious to Sarah. He sticks to His promise of a son and provides one. He doesn’t punish her unbelief. He isn’t deeply offended by her lack of belief. By her laughter. By her leery disposition. Instead, He is patient, loving, and slow to anger. He graciously provides what He promised. So often God’s grace looks like promises fulfilled even in the face of unbelief.

And soon it all comes full circle. Sarah gives birth to her son and names him Isaac, which means “he will laugh.” Even though she had laughed in unbelief before, she used laughter to name her son in full faith.

The strength of Sarah’s story doesn’t come from her overwhelming faith or her display of an upright spirit. No, she is just like us. She is lacking and leery. The strength in her story is the grace given from her God. Despite her unbelief, God gave her an unbelievable gift.

GRACE REFLECTION: What feels far-fetched and laughable in your life today? Talk about it with God. Take your longings to Him, and ask Him to meet you right there in them.