Laughter...What Kind Is It?
We often hear this scripture, and medical science has proven that laughter really does increase the rate of healing.
But could there be a time when laughter is wrong?
Your first thought might be that laughter is wrong when it is about unseemly, ungodly jokes or thoughts...and yes, that is true. But there is another time that laughter is unmerited.
In Genesis 18, we find Abraham and Sarah abiding in the fields of Mamre. Long past their prime, they have contented themselves to think that God's promise of a son for Abraham was fulfilled by their human inclination to give Sarah's handmaiden to Abraham. They have chosen to believe that God's promise meant a second-rate blessing--a child born of a servant, Hagar.
Often, we are given promises and due to, what we call, delays in their fulfillment, we seek to obtain them through our own methods. In hindsight, we can see now that Ishmael was never the promised seed nor was his birth part of God's plan for Abraham and Sarah.
We find, however, that Abraham and Sarah had contented themselves with this boy as their answer. While it is easy to condemn them, we must realize the many years of waiting they endured. Sarah had just reached the age of 90 and Abraham, that of 100.
A Visitation
It was during this time that God visited the couple in the guise of three strangers. And what should have been a joyous occasion of renewed faith...turned into a mockery instead.
We find the messengers' message in Genesis 18:10: "lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son."
In my mind, she should have been elated! Up until now, it had seemed that the promise of an heir for Abraham had left her out of the whole affair. Hagar, the handmaiden, had been given the honor of birthing Abraham's heir and Sarah, his loving wife who had served God the best she knew how, had been left barren.
This news, as you see, should have been met with tears of joy, dancing, singing even! But instead, we find that she laughed as if the messengers--and God through them--were foolish.
Yet Another Visitation
We find another instance of such laughter in the New Testament. In Luke 1, we find the priest Zacharias tending to his duties for the Lord. He had long prayed for a son for him and his wife, Elizabeth.
Once again, because the prayer was not answered in the timeframe he expected, he had come to the conclusion that his prayer would remain unfulfilled.
Once again, God visited his child through an angelic messenger. Not only did God tell Zacharias that his prayer had been heard and would be answered, but seldom were such tidings heard heretofore:
"Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:13-17).
Such news should have been cause for rejoicing...but instead, Zacharias interrupts the angel, laughingly asking "Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years."
Seriously, I ponder, if I were greeted by an angelic being that just appeared before me, I think I would believe!
But then, I've seen so many miraculous things...and yet still find believing God's promises in my own life a struggle at times.
For his disbelief, Zacharias lost his ability to speak until his child was born and had been named.
Laughter: Good or Evil?
In these two instances, we see people with incredible promises from God...who laughed.
I urge you, whatever you seek of God and whatever He has spoken to your heart about....keep the faith.
Whatever your response--be it laughter, mockery, depression due to doubt, or just giving up--just remember God's response to Sarah:
Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?
