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Laughter
Laughing has many meanings. We laugh because we are happy and joyful. Or, we laugh because our situation or a story is funny. Or, we laugh because it is so absurd, ridiculous or farcical.
The Scripture says that Abraham laughed.
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, ‘Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? (Genesis 17:17)
What kind of laugh was Abraham’s laugh? He thought it was ridiculous to think that 99-year-old man would have a baby. But later, when Isaac was born, when the absurd promise was fulfilled, he laughed because he was happy and joyful. And he named the baby, Isaac, which means “one who laughs.” Laughing is a big theme for Abraham’s life.
God’s promise
Isaac was a child of promise. He was born by the promise of God. This child of promise was named, “laughter.”
In that sense, God’s promise is somehow connected with laughter. God’s promise makes us laugh. Because it is too good to be true. We laugh because it is hard to believe.
Verse 18 is very interesting. When God said to the 99-year-old man that he would have a baby, Abraham responded in this way.
O that Ishmael might live in your sight! (Genesis 17:18)
You gotta be kidding, God. I am a hundred-year-old man! 100-year-old man being knighted by 94-year-old queen is one thing but having a baby? Have you seen Tom Moore being knighted by Queen Elizabeth. It was so cute. 100-year-old man having a baby? That’s too much. I just want you to take care of Ishmael. That’s good enough.
The Circumcision
His response was very reasonable and understandable. But strangely in the end, what did he do? He performed the circumcision.
Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. (Genesis 17:23)
The circumcision was the sign of accepting God’s promise. Abraham accepted God’s promise, a seemingly ridiculous promise. He laughed because it was ridiculous BUT HE ACCEPTED HIS PROMISE. That was strange. He took God’s promise seriously. He didn’t just laugh it away. That was Abraham’s faith. God’s promise was absurd but his faith was also absurd. Through his faith, this absurd promise came true.
That’s why we call Abraham, the ancestor of faith. Abraham was a great figure. Through Abraham, Jewish people were established. God’s people were established. He was honored in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham was the first person to discover this God whom he could interact by a personal relationship. In that time, people believed in many gods such as stars, sun, and trees. Abraham was the first one who discovered One God whom he could relate to. That’s why he was called the friend of God.
Promise
The distinct characteristic of this personal relationship with God was PROMISE. God related to Abraham with this promise. Abraham’s life was very closely connected with God’s promise. His life journey began with this promise. The reason he left his home town was because of God’s promise. The land he arrived was the PROMISED land.
The Lord said to Abram,
Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 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. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3)
God’s promise moved Abraham’s life. To Abraham, the promise was not just empty words. It was something that shaped Abraham’s life. He believed in God’s promise. Ultimately, God’s promise was fulfilled through his faith.
As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. (Genesis 17:4-6)
Abraham discovered this wonderful truth that God leads our lives by his promise. We don’t have to figure out everything. God leads us and ultimately fulfills his promise in our lives.
Our life is shaped by God’s promise. God gave us the promise through Jesus Christ. That was Matthew’s last sentence in his gospel.
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
Jesus promised that he would be with us always, to the end of the age. We should hold unto that promise. There are times when it is hard to believe this promise. Especially when life is too hard and we feel too lonely. But hold unto that promise even when the promise doesn’t seem real. That is what faith is.
The Nature of God’s Promise
We can never easily understand God’s promise. It is never easy to accept God’s promise. That is the NATURE OF GOD’S PROMISE. God’s promise is not understandable and it does not always make sense. It makes us uncomfortable. But when we accept that with our faith, we will be able to enter into the world of promise. We will discover the wonderful reality of promise. Promise comes true by our faith.
We already experienced that when we look back our lives. There were times when our life was so difficult that we didn’t feel God’s presence at all. There was nothing that we looked forward. We felt that everything was going in a wrong way. But we held unto God’s promise that he would always be with us and he would guide us and show us the way. And God kept his promise. He was indeed with us and showed us way.
Jesus’ Promise
When Lazarus died, Jesus came to Mary and Martha and he gave them the promise.
I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25, 26)
That was Jesus’ promise. Those who believe in me, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. After this, Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus and asked them to remove the stone. Jesus said,
‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ (John 11:39-40)
Mary and Martha heard Jesus’ promise but it was hard to believe. They thought it was too much to believe. That’s why Martha said, “…already there is a stench.” That was her way of saying that it was too late. But like Abraham, in the end, she let them remove the stone in front of the tomb as Jesus said even though it was difficult to believe Jesus’ promise. And they entered into the wonderful reality of God’s promise.
The People of Promise
My friends, we are people of promise. God gave us all his promises. We are all blessed people.
Now, what is left for us is to hold unto that promise. The disciples, even though they practically lived with Jesus for three years, they could not believe the promise of God. Instead of believing in God’s promises, they wanted visible signs.
Professor James Edwards said,
Faith that depends on proof is not faith, but only veiled doubt.
The promise is not a visible sign. It can never be. If it is visible, it is not a promise. Because it is not yet a historical reality, it is the promise. Promise is not yet here. That’s why Abraham struggled.
There is always a gap between the promise and the historical reality. We live in the gap. What fills this gap is our faith.
Abraham lived in this gap all his life. His struggle was the struggle of faith. Of course, there were times when he couldn’t hold unto that promise. When a scary situation came, he lied – He lied that his wife was his sister. He almost lost his wife. Abraham struggled with faith. But in the end, he had a radical faith that allowed him even to be willing to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. The promise was not yet there but he acted as though the promise was already there. Hoping against hope, he believed.
Faith: Embrace Your Struggle
Faith is not something you can have just because you want to have it. There is a process. Faith is life journey. Faith grows little by little and the growth is often not visible. We all struggle to have faith. That struggle is precious. That struggle makes our faith journey meaningful.
Jesus also had a struggle. His struggle in Gethsemane was the struggle of faith. There is no one who doesn’t struggle with their faith. We all struggle. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have faith. As a matter of fact, that is the proof that we have faith. Because we have faith, we struggle. Because we see the gap between God’s promise and our reality, we struggle.
Don’t give up your struggle. Don’t run away from the struggle. Embrace your struggle. That is what faith is. And move forward one step at a time.
Trust God’s Promise
Holding unto the promise is not the most comfortable thing to do. It is not something you can control or manage. The promise is always beyond our comfort level. It is bigger than you. That’s why when we face the promise, we sometimes laugh. But there will be a day when your laugh of absurdity will turn into the laughter of joy.
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; (Psalm 126:1, 2)
I pray that your laughter of absurdity turn into laughter of joy. There are many promises hidden in God’s word. I pray that these promises become yours. I pray that they are not just empty words in the Bible, but the promises that you hold unto. These promises are not just for you and for your generation. They will continue from one generation to another. If you trust God’s promise, you and your children will be blessed.
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