Sarah's Holy Laughter Part 1

Genesis 21: Sarah's Holy Laughter

The Birth of Isaac
1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac [a] to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." 7 And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

I have come to appreciate and admire the Life of Sarah a great deal. She is an awesome woman of God. Whether it is willing sacrificing her life for her husbands to the King of Egypt, in a very Esther like commitment, or standing with her husband on a 25 year promise, she is a woman of Faith. Hebrews 11:11 says “By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.” Sarah has the greater part of the faith walk that brings forth Isaac. She carriers the child doesn’t she? My aged and wise mother often remarks about the connection between a woman’s pregnancy and the disposition of a child. Isaac is a child of joy. His name means laughter. I have put together an acronym below to detail the blessing and the commitment associated with the birth of Isaac. I hope it will provide some insight for you in regards to this tremendous woman and the character of God as well


L. Long-awaited

A. Acknowledgement of Faith

U. Understands the Impossibility of the Promise (verse 6)

G. Give pleasure to God

H. Honors those that stood with you in Faith

T. Treated as Holy (verse 4)

E. Eliminates Previous Mistakes

R. Remembers the Covenant Gen 17:19

L Long-awaited Promise:

The main character of Sarah’s promise is that it was long awaited. 25 years in fact. When I asked my congregation this question this message suddenly became very heavy, but I ask you the question anyway.

What long awaited promises do you have from the Lord that you are waiting for?

Do they grow dim as the years pass?

What has the Lord said to you?

I am not asking what you desire; I am asking what you know. Do you have an experience with the Lord in which you know in your knower that God has spoken to you about a promise, I pray you do!!! When we speak of a personal relationship with Christ, it is this level of communication that we are speaking about. Anything else is shallow religion. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice.”

Does the pressure of the promise keep you awake?

Does it have a social context associated with honor or shame as Sarah’s promise did?

It is difficult for us to understand in a modern culture the pressure placed on a women of her time to have a child. Even as a write this I am reminded of the women I know that suffer because they can not have children. The difference is that barrenness in our day is a private pain, but then it was a community shame.

Yet by faith Abram goes from being exalted father the father of nations, Abraham. Sarai, princess, becomes, Sarah, the princess of nations. The Promise is fulfilled and laughter is their portion.

A. Acknowledgement of Faith

When a promise is fulfilled it is an acknowledgement of faith. It demonstrates that God is with you and that you “weren’t crazy after all.

I feel I must take some time her to share the testimony of my family and God’s work in it. As a brave 29 year old man, I married a women recently divorced with 3 teenage daughters. Lora 16, Becky 14 and Melissa 12, I had two sons from a previous marriage, David then 5 and Brian 2. That is five and that is a lot. But after two years my wife wanted us to have a child together. Although I resisted at first, I consented to her having an operation that had some risk in itself and some risk if she were to conceive in the future. Two years after the operation to reverse Diane burned fallopian tubes she had not conceived. She was led to go on a 14 day water fast, as Hannah had. God honored that fast with the conception of John. We would find out three months into her pregnancy that John had down syndrome. When he was born he had to have several intestinal operations. Diane felt like she had failed to give me a healthy son. I was then and always have been delighted in our son John.

Our church, family, and friends were delighted in John. Diane was 37 at the time.

Then God began to give us names. I would wake up with a name; she would wake up with a name. In succession each before they were conceived God gave us the names of Daniel, Deborah, Timothy, and Emily. We became so confident in the voice of God that when we went home after the birth of Timothy we said to the mid-wife see you in 1 ½ years with Emily. God was faithful.

Yet there is a painful side to this story as well. I have never made good money as a social worker or minister. My wife was now 43. Many in the church no longer celebrated with us. Some family ridiculed us. We stopped sharing the joy we felt at the conception of our children with others.

It would take a few years but God would acknowledge our faith and finally others would laugh with us.

God provided us with a home. When we moved in we paid $85,000. When it was appraised at the time it was worth $450,000. It has 5 bedroom two baths and a large back yard. We had previously been squeezed into a three bedroom apartment in which my wife and I slept on a twin bed because the bedroom would not fit a full sized bed.

God had publicly acknowledged our faith. It makes me laugh out loud even now.

Stand on the Promises that you have from God. You will grow weary but do grow faint of heart. You may even bring forth and Ishmael in the process but remember, even Ishmael was blessed of God. The Lord knows our frailties and he will see us through them.

Understanding the Impossibility of the Promise

Have you ever been a witness to the tenderness of and elderly couple’s intimacy? The holding of hands, the soft look, if you have, you have beheld something beautiful. Abraham and Sarah were old. Not old and dieing but old in body and disposition.

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he[a]considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Hebrews 11: says they were as good as dead. . I believe this is a reference the Abraham’s sexual functioning. I can imagine them tenderly going to their bed chamber. A bedchamber that had not known pleasure likely for many years, yet, by faith, knowing the impossibility of the promise, they walk together to the marital chamber and were blessed with potency, pleasure, and a person named laughter.


What has God made impossible for you to obtain? For me it was a house to raise my children. Yes, I could have changed jobs, but the blessing was in walking out the impossibility.

God is Faithful. to Keep Long Awaited Promises, to Acknowledge the Faith We Have Walked In, and to reinforce the Impossiblity of the Promise that he made happen for us. Give God Glory and Praise for What He did in Sarah's Life. I pray you can give him Praise and Glory of what He has done in your life.