If I told you the Buffalo Bills would win the Super Bowl next year, I bet you’d laugh!

The Bills are famous (or should I say “infamous”?) for losing 4 straight Super Bowls from 1991-1994.

Since I lived and worked in Western New York, I know the bitterness of those years of barrenness. And I know that if you say the Bills will win the Super Bowl, it’s greeted with disbelief—with laughter and shaking of heads.

In the Bible, Sarah greeted the idea that she’d have a baby next year with disbelief—by laughing and by shaking of her head. (Genesis 18:9-15).

I assume that—like friends I’ve known who endured years of infertility and miscarriages—Sarah had known many times when she hoped she was pregnant, only to have her hopes crushed.

Therefore, disbelief came. Laughter became a “defense mechanism” for Sarah. She couldn’t bear to have her hopes raised one more time, only to bear devastating disappointment.

The Bible tells us that Sarah’s Laugh-Of-Disbelief came when she and her husband, Abraham, were far past the age when it seemed possible for them to have children. (Genesis 17:17;18:11-12; 21:2,5,7)

Nevertheless, God assured Abraham that Sarah would yet bear him a child when he was “a hundred” and Sarah was “ninety”. (Genesis 17:15-19).

Abraham fell facedown. He laughed. (Genesis 17:17).

Sarah overheard this conversation with Abraham. She laughed. (Genesis 18:12).

The guest asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:13-14).

This question reminds me of Jesus saying, “What is impossible with [humans] is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27).

When Sarah heard the question “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”, she “was afraid, so she lied and said, ‘I did not laugh’” (Genesis 18:15).

We are not told why Sarah was afraid, why she lied about laughing at God’s wonderful promises to her.

But aren’t we also afraid when we hear God’s wonderful promises to us?

We simply don’t believe God’s wonderful promises to us will come true. We laugh them off, as if we know we shouldn’t expect God’s wonderful promises to us to come true.

We need to be like the man who admitted to Jesus that he did not have enough faith to believe.

Jesus told him, “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately, the man “exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:24).

Abraham overcame his fear and unbelief when he got out of the “tent” representing his old ways of living and saw the multitudes of stars, representing all the countless ways his life—his Seed—would bless other people. (Genesis 15:1,5-6; note to Genesis 3:15: “offspring” is the same word as “seed”)(see my blog “Getting Out of Your ‘Tent’”).

Sarah overcame her unbelief when she held her baby—her Seed—in her arms.

Sarah laughed!

Only this time, it wasn’t the Laugh-Of-Disbelief. It was the Laugh-Of-Belief!

This is the laughter and the joy that the Psalmist spoke of in Psalm 126.

The Psalmist knew about barrenness that brings tears and weeping. Nevertheless, in God’s good time and in God’s good Way, the LORD will restore our fortunes.

The LORD God might “restore our fortunes” by having a long hoped for baby.

Or, the LORD God might “restore our fortunes” in some other way that overcomes the bitterness of barrenness with the joy of blessing other people in countless ways. (See my book The Promised Land, at pages 30-33).

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5 KJV).

“Our mouths [will fill] with laughter,

     our tongues with songs of joy” (Psalm 126:2).

“Those who sow with tears [of barrenness]

     will reap with songs of joy.

Those who go out weeping

     carrying [S]eed to sow,

will return with songs of joy,

     carrying sheaves with them.

(Psalm 126:5-6)

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

In what ways has your life been barren? How? Why?

In what ways has your weeping endured for a night, but your joy come in the morning? How? Why?

What Seeds have you sown? How? Why?

What sheaves have you harvested? How? Why?

What songs of joy have you sung? How? Why?

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For related thoughts, please read my blogs “Jesus Laughed!”, “A Wise Wife Laughs!”, and “Getting Out of Your ‘Tent’”.