“God’s Laughter”

Sermon Title: God’s Laughter

Scripture: Genesis 18:9-15, 21:1-7 ESV

Introduction

Genesis 18 cannot be understood apart from the promises God had already made to Abraham. Back in Genesis 12:2, when Abraham was seventy-five years old, God promised: "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing."

In Genesis 13, God promised that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. Then in Genesis 15, God made it clear that Abraham would have a son of his own. At that point Abraham was eighty-five years old. After ten years had passed without a child, Abraham began to struggle to understand how God's promise would come about. He did not stop believing God's word, but he began to reinterpret God's plan. Perhaps one of his servants would become his heir and God would fulfill His promise through him. God corrected Abraham's thinking and explicitly told him that he would have his own child. It was also in Genesis 15 that God expanded the promise and declared that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Fourteen more years passed. By Genesis 17 Abraham was ninety-nine years old and Sarah was eighty-nine. God said: "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her." (Gen. 17:15-16)

Abraham's response was: "Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, 'Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?'" (Gen. 17:17)

Abraham had walked with God for decades. He had seen God's faithfulness over and over again. Yet after twenty-four years of waiting, the promise now seemed impossible. His laughter reveals the astonishment of someone who can no longer see a way for God's promise to become reality.

It is into this context that Genesis 18 unfolds.

Sarah’s Laugh

God appears to Abraham together with two angels who will soon continue on toward Sodom. Abraham welcomes them, serves them, and then God asks a very unusual question: "Where is Sarah your wife?" The question should immediately sound familiar because God asked similar questions earlier in Genesis. He asked Adam and Eve where they were after they hid in the garden. He asked Cain where Abel was after Cain murdered his brother. In every case God already knew the answer. God does not ask questions because He needs information. God asks questions because He is revealing the condition of the human heart. God knew exactly where Sarah was. She was inside the tent. Yet through this question God was preparing to reveal something deeper that was taking place inside her heart

The narrator reminds us: “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah." (Gen. 18:11) This detail is important because it emphasizes the impossibility of the situation. Humanly speaking, there was no hope of a child.

The Lord then repeats His promise and adds a timeline: "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Gen. 18:10). Sarah's response is immediate: "So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?'" (Gen. 18:12) Her laughter sounds remarkably similar to Abraham's earlier laughter in Genesis 17. What is especially interesting is that neither Abraham nor Sarah voiced these thoughts directly to God. Both laughed inwardly. Both were responding internally to God's word. Their laughter revealed what was taking place in their hearts. Sarah was looking at reality through human eyes. She saw her age. She saw her body. She saw decades of disappointment and unfulfilled expectation. From her perspective, God's promise simply seemed impossible.

Then God asks Abraham: "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'" (Gen. 18:13) It is interesting that God addresses Abraham instead of Sarah. Scripture never explicitly tells us why. Perhaps God is speaking through the covenant head of the household. Perhaps God is reminding Abraham of his own laughter back in chapter 17. Or perhaps God is gently exposing Sarah's unbelief without publicly shaming her. Whatever the reason, God is revealing what is taking place in Sarah's heart. He is exposing her doubt, not to condemn her, but to address it.

Sarah's response reveals something that is common to all of us. "But Sarah denied it, saying, 'I did not laugh,' for she was afraid." (Gen. 18:15) Sarah lies because she is afraid. Fear often drives us to hide. We fear being exposed. We fear what others might think of us. We fear admitting that our faith is weak. We fear acknowledging our doubts, struggles, disappointments, and questions before God. This happens frequently in the church. We tell people we are fine when we are not. We say our faith is doing well when we are struggling. We hide behind appearances because we do not want others to see what is really happening in our hearts. Sarah was no different. Yet before God there is nowhere to hide. God hears what we say out loud and what we say to ourselves. He sees the doubts that remain hidden from everyone else.

What is beautiful is the way God responds. He does not say: "How dare you doubt me." He does not say: "How dare you lie to me." Instead He simply replies: "No, but you did laugh." God does not allow falsehood to stand, but neither does He crush Sarah beneath the weight of condemnation. He meets her exactly where she is and gently calls her into truth. This reveals the heart of God. He is patient with struggling believers. He is compassionate toward weak faith. He is kind, gentle, merciful, and understanding toward His children when they struggle to trust Him.

The Promise

At the center of this entire passage stands one of the great questions of Scripture: "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Gen. 18:14)

The answer is obvious. Absolutely not. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.

God immediately doubles down on His promise and repeats that Sarah will indeed have a son at the appointed time. And one year later she does. The child is given a fascinating name: Isaac. Every time Abraham and Sarah called his name they would remember their earlier laughter. Yet God transformed that laughter of unbelief into laughter of joy.

Sarah later declares: "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." (Gen. 21:6) nIsaac became a living testimony to the God who does the impossible. The God who met Sarah in her unbelief transformed her laughter of doubt into laughter of faith and joy. The God who met her hiding in the tent transformed her into someone who openly rejoiced in the faithfulness of God.

This passage, however, is often misunderstood. Many Christians read this story and conclude that if they simply have enough faith, God will do the impossible and give them the desires of their heart. But that is not the message of Genesis 18.

If God's blessings depended upon the strength of Abraham and Sarah's faith, Isaac would never have been born. Abraham laughed. Sarah laughed. Both struggled with doubt. Yet God fulfilled His promise anyway. The story is not about the greatness of their faith. The story is about the greatness of God's faithfulness. It was God who sustained the promise despite their unbelief. It was God who continued His work despite their weakness. It was God who remained faithful when they struggled to trust Him.

Therefore our hope is never found in the strength of our faith but in the faithfulness of our God and the certainty of His Word. The story ultimately points beyond Isaac. Isaac was not the promise himself. God's promise in Genesis 12 was that Abraham would become a great nation through whom blessing would come to the world. Isaac was part of that promise, but he was not its final fulfillment.

To understand the bigger picture, we must look at another mother. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he said: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." (Luke 1:30-31) The similarities are striking. Sarah was told she would bear a son and call his name Isaac. Mary was told she would bear a son and call his name Jesus. Both situations involved human impossibility. Sarah was too old. Mary was a virgin. When Mary wondered how this could happen, the angel answered: "For nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37) The angel's words answer the very question God asked back in Genesis 18.

Isaac points beyond himself to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true fulfillment of God's promise. Through Him God accomplishes the impossible work of salvation. Through Him God transforms sinners. Through Him God takes our laughter of unbelief and turns it into joy and worship.

Conclusion

Today God asks us the same question He asked Sarah: "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" The way we answer that question reveals the condition of our hearts. It reveals whether we truly trust God with our impossible situations. It reveals whether we have surrendered our desires, expectations, disappointments, and fears into His hands. It reveals whether we trust His character even when we do not understand His plans.

Many of us still carry questions before God. We wonder why certain prayers remain unanswered. We wonder why healing has not come. We wonder why deliverance has been delayed. We wonder why God sometimes seems silent in the midst of suffering. Like Sarah, we must come out of the tent. We must bring those questions before the Lord. We must seek His heart and His presence. That is a conversation no one else can have for us. The God who met Sarah in her doubts is the same God who later transformed her laughter into joy. The God who was faithful to Sarah remains faithful to His people today. Our God will meet us in our moments of unbelief. He will meet us in our impossible situations. We may not always receive the things we desire, but we will discover the faithfulness of our God.

And as a church, we must ask ourselves one final question. When we look at our circumstances, when we look at our limitations, when we look at the challenges before us, how will we respond to God's Word? Will we laugh in doubt because we cannot imagine God doing something great? Or will we laugh in joy, faith, and victory because we believe that Christ is at work among His people and that nothing is impossible for our God?

Reflection

Brothers and sisters, have you been fearful that God will not bless you because of your unbelief? Do not fear for the Lord is not bothered so much about it. After all He knows it, He knew it, but He will heal it and restore you.

Brothers and sisters, how do you respond to God’s word? Does his word fill you with confidence in who you are in Christ and what He is doing in your life and in the church? Does it fill you with expectation and joy? Or do you doubt, but still hope for the best, thinking whatever will be will be, maybe even scoffing in your heart thinking that’s impossible for me and this church. That’s alright, the Lord is gracious and He will transform you because our God is someone who does the impossible.

Brothers and sisters, in your difficult and impossible situations, how do you respond to the Lord? How you respond may be more important than you realize. How you respond may be more important that your situation. Surrender your situation to the Lord.