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SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 21:1-7

God fulfills His promise of giving Abraham and Sarah a son. 

REFLECTION

The boy named laughter is the theme for our reflection. There are three important things that human beings aspire to achieve in adulthood, these are vocation or source of livelihood, marriage, and children. Abraham and Sarah had attained the first two but lacked the third. In Jewish and African societies, having offspring in marriage is highly desired and expected from couples. Having a child or children in an African marriage is very important and is given so much attention that women are often harassed and taunted for not bringing forth babies after a reasonable period in their marriage. Abraham and Sarah found themselves in a situation where they had all the wealth one can think of but they had no child and more importantly a son to inherit their properties and to continue the lineage. 

It came to a time Sarah had given up on the expectation of a child and did not expect any laughter borne out of the joy of child birth. Genesis 18:11-15 tells us that  “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” We are again reminded in the book of Numbers that “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19) 

Truly, when the time came God brought laughter into the house of Abraham and Sarah by giving them a biological son. “The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised.  And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. …. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” (Genesis 21:1-3,6). I do not know your expectations and heart desires but what I do believe is that God is able to bring laughter into your hopeless situation. You may not see it coming and like Sarah, you may have even given up on your prayer and expectations but Paul reminds us that “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”(Romans 8:28)

Jesus Christ further gives us the greatest assurance and hope that laughter will come into our hopeless situation when He said in Mark 10:27 that “With man, it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Sarah’s testimony proves Jesus’s statement to be true when she said “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Genesis 21:7) My dear friend, are you still doubting God’s promises to be fulfilled in your life? Be assured that the journey of a believer or a disciple of Christ is not a smooth one but with faith and hope in our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, a situation of laughter shall be witnessed in your home. For some of us, the situation that will bring laughter is marriage, for some of us it is gainful employment after years of joblessness, for some of us it is childbirth and for others, it is success in their businesses. Ecclesiastes 3:4 clearly tells us that there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;” My dear friend in Christ, no condition is permanent, except the will of God. We are again encouraged in Psalm 30:5 that “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” May an Isaac situation happen in your life to cause a laughter of joy and hope and may your faith be increased in our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Shalom. 

PRAYER

ALMIGHTY GOD, INCREASE OUR FAITH TO EXPERIENCE THE LAUGHER OF JOY AND HOPE IN OUR HOPELESS SITUATION. AMEN 

Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)