Good morning and welcome to the 5MC on this Thursday morning. Planning, planning, planning. I’ve never encountered a logistical challenge like the one before me. Producing and operating a camp for 250 people that will be held 7,847 miles away. Food, lodging, supplies, medical, comfort, curriculum, recreation, team-building and social interaction. They all take on a different meaning and a different feel when they include 10 different nationalities that will all be brought together in one place for the first time. The challenge however is embraced as I feel it forcing me closer to God. I told Margie the other day, “I know that I am where God wants me to be because I feel totally out of control.” You see, I’ve learned that is where you want to be. When you feel you are thoroughly in control of everything in your life, why do you need God around? But on the other hand, when I feel helpless and powerless, I cry out to God quickly. And in His character, He always answers. No matter what you may be facing today, I have one glaring fact for you. You need God in it, you’re not enough. Our culture today talks up the appeal of “strong” men or “strong female leads” in movies, but believe it or not we don’t need more of these, but less. We need less “strong” people and more weak people that get their strength from the Lord. Folks, it’s ok to be weak. It’s ok to say you don’t know it all. It’s ok to just be human. But if you want the strength of the universe at your call, call upon the Lord.
Today we’re in Genesis chapter 18. In the last several chapters we have seen God dealing with Abraham and Sarah. Establishing His covenant with Abraham and promising them a child that will further execute and evolve this covenant. But as we have all this church talk about covenants, circumcision, righteousness and justice, let’s not forget to see the story and bring it home. Let’s not forget that Abraham and Sarah were real people and in doing so, were just like you and me today. You know, Bible people didn’t know they were living in Bible times. They were just regular ol’ people living their lives just like us today. (Except in this case they were talking with God!)
So as the Lord visits with them in chapters 17 and 18, He is informing them of their new little bundle of joy that will be coming next year, Isaac. What I want to look at in today’s study is just that. When we pray for something or ask God for a miracle and He provides for it in some amazing way, how do our simple human minds perceive it and comprehend it? The average human brain is a mere 3 pounds and that is all that we have at our disposal to understand a God that is infinite. That is all the processing power we have in order to comprehend the God of the universe and His plans for all of it. So how well do we do? Let’s look at how Abraham and Sarah comprehend miraculous news.
So first let’s look at some facts. The first one is very simply the hardest for us. We are very logical creatures and to form logic you need history. We base our logic on what we have observed in the past. If I told you I could run 75 miles an hour would you believe it? Absolutely not. Why? Well, in a nutshell because you have never seen or heard of that being done, ever. So, in our human logic, if there is no historical precedent, then the likelihood of its reality is very low to us. So, at this point in our story Abraham is a very young 99 years old (Gen 17:1) and Sarah is a spry 89 years young. (Gen 17:17) So not only do we have two very old folks here, but you also can’t discount the history of their successful ability to produce offspring. Abraham was 75 when the Lord called them out of Haran for Canaan (Gen 12:5) and that’s the first mention we get of their marriage. I assume they were married well before this but ultimately, we’re not told. But if I had to guess, they got married somewhat young, so considering their current age, they’ve probably been married around 65 years. So 65 years of marriage and no kids. None. We’re told twice in God’s Word that Sarah was “barren.” (Gen 11:30, 16:1) Up to this point God had withheld children from them. Of course, unbeknownst to them, this was part of His perfect plan.
In their day to be barren was not a good thing. It carried with it personal shame and societal pity. It also could greatly strain your marriage as the wife was not able to give children to the husband. (we already saw the debacle with Hagar) To be labeled “barren” meant that your womb was lifeless, unable to bring forth life. Some would even say the womb was “of death” meaning lifeless. You can see here the great symbolism of life coming forth out of death. From the lifeless, death of the tomb, Jesus rose and out of the lifeless womb of Sarah will come Isaac to move the covenant of God forward.
So how would you take the news that at 99 you’re going to be a dad? I would automatically do the math in my head and say, “do you realize I will be 117 when he graduates High School?” How do you think Sarah reacts to the fact that she has been waiting for a baby for 72 years and just now it will be happening? What’s ironic is when faced with the realization of this miracle of God, they both respond the same way. Laughter.
“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
“ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” Gen 18:11-12
A miracle is being announced to them directly from God. Their 3 pound brains are churning a mile a minute to process this amazing bit of data. Input makes output and out comes…laughter. Sometimes you can’t help but laugh, right? Have you ever had something so crazy happen that all you can do is kinda chuckle to yourself? I have, many times. It seems in those moments it’s how our brain deals with disjointed logic. Abraham was righteous before God and He talked with God 7 times throughout Genesis. He followed God faithfully and we will see just how faithfully as a few chapters later he takes this new son up the mountain in one of the most powerful stories in God’s Word. When it came to Abraham, there was no doubt when it came to God. So, this wasn’t a doubtful laughter, this wasn’t a “yeah right” kinda deal. This was Abraham fully comprehending what God was telling Him with the utmost of his human capacity. And all he could do? Laugh to himself. God was going to bless him with his own son at 100 years old and He was full of quizzical joy.
Sarah actually overheard this bit of info as Abraham and she hosted “angels unawares” (Heb 13:2) at their home. (Gen 1-10) It was not acceptable for women to dine at the table with strange men, so we see in verse 10b that she was hovering around the tent door, listening in. As the Lord reveals that next year they would have a son, Sarah has the bomb dropped on her for the first time. I can only imagine. A woman’s yearning for her own child can be a very deep, soulful journey. One I do not claim to understand at any level. At 89 years old I can only imagine the prayers that Sarah had offered, maybe at times simply begging God for a child. I can only imagine the countless years she had seen the women in the family and the village usher in new sons and daughters. At this age she had seen her peers have kids, then grandkids and then even great-grandkids. What a journey she must have endured to this point. And now she hears that she will indeed have her own son. I cannot possibly fathom how her synapses must have fired in that moment. But however the electrical signals travelled, we do know their outcome. She laughed. She laughed to herself as she processed God’s miracle.
When we deal with the Lord we are out of our league. We’re really handicapped. How in the world can we expect to understand a God that created the universe and everything in it with just His voice in a mere 6 days? I often think about when God speaks with men in His Word that He was probably really speaking simply and slowly right? I think that’s how he deals with us. And even when He lowers to our level, we still can’t fully understand who He is and how He works.
When you encounter the Lord and you see Him work miracles in your life, it’s ok to be speechless. It’s ok to simply gawk in wonder at how intricate the work of God can be in our lives. I look back at moments in my life where God worked miracles and I probably did just laugh a few times. A chuckle to myself as I recognize and process the power, glory and goodness of the Almighty God we serve.
Sometimes you just gotta laugh.
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