"God Hath Made Me to Laugh"

When was the last time God did something for you that was so ridiculously miraculous that you just had to laugh? You know, one of those situations in which everybody who could offer an opinion declared the situation dead and buried, but God came through as He said He would. It was a time when it would have been easy to have given up on God, to look at the realities of situations that seemed so out of line with the promises of God, to yield to the voice of those who like Job's wife pose the question, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die" (Job 2:9, KJV). Yet, we held on. Not necessarily because we were not tempted to give up, but just because we kept on believing that if God said it, regardless of how things may seem, He can be trusted to bring it to pass.

Those thoughts came to mind as I reflected on Sarah’s response to the birth of her son, Isaac. By this time her husband, Abraham, was one hundred years old and she, ninety. Not being able to bear children in her younger days, it was now humanly impossible for her to conceive in her twilight years. The narrative affirms, "Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age" (Genesis 18:11), so much so that a year earlier when the LORD renewed His promise that they would be parents, Sarah laughed within herself and mused, "An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?" (Genesis 18:12, The Message). If anything was dead, her womb certainly was and as far as she was concerned, her husband's virility as well.

Yet, if ever there was a situation that was perfect for a miracle, this was it. It would be fair to say that this golden-aged couple, spurred on my the promise of God, did what they had to do and in a matter of months, Sarah did conceive and later on gave birth to Isaac just as the LORD said she would. The narrative tells us, "And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age" (Genesis 21:6-7, KJV). Her former laughter was one filled with incredulity, her latter laughter was one of thanksgiving.

"And Sarah said, God hath made to laugh." That could be your testimony as well. In the midst of the hopeless situation you face, what has He told you? If you can stay the course with Him while doing your part, He will make you laugh and those who hear will laugh with you. Just ask Sarah.