Laughing out loud

Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him....  Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”  Genesis 21:6 

On a couple of occasions as a boy, I became overly sensitive to laughter directed my way.  My young mind assumed it was mockery.  Recognizing my misinterpretation, my mother explained, “They aren’t laughing at you, Paul; they’re laughing with you.”  What I understood to be rejection and ridicule was actually friendship and joy.  It was great relief to me at the time and I have come to understand her distinction at a deeper level.  For over the years, I’ve been laughed at and laughed with, and I’ve directed both toward others.

We tend to think of laughter as signifying humor or elation, but this quite often is not the case.  A nervous titter betrays a situational awkwardness or stress, while disrespect trickles out through a snicker.  And oddly enough, it is not uncommon for bitterness or disdain to find its voice in a cackle or a guffaw.  Laughter proceeds from whatever we harbor in our soul. 

Like distrust, for instance.  A year before Isaac’s birth, an eavesdropping Sarah overheard the Lord say to her husband Abraham, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son” (Genesis 18:10).  Sarah laughed.  Hers was not a boisterous burst of joy, but a cynical slip of disbelief.  She laughed at God’s promise. 

Isn’t it good to know that God is patient with us in our times of bitterness?  He is faithful to his word even when our hearts are faithless toward him; he redeems our despair and turns it into hope and joy.  So even though Sarah had laughed at God in doubt, she would laugh again with others in the joy of his grace and an impossible promised fulfilled. 

So we ask ourselves, Do I laugh in contempt from a heart skeptical about God's love or disillusioned by slights from others?  If so, let’s turn in faith to God for forgiveness and rejoice in his promises.  For our God is forever faithful; we will laugh again with him.

“He will yet fill your mouths with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.”  Job 8:21

[Click here to see the daily reading in Genesis 21:1-7.]