Joy & Laughter
Genesis 21:6, “And Sarah declared, ‘God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!” (NLT).
Isaac (meaning laughter) is the first fruit of the promise God made to Abram and Sarai that they would be the parents of many nations and that through this seed all families of the earth would be blessed. But, in order to fulfill the promise, God took Abram and Sarai out of their nation, out of their current land and sent them to a new country, to birth a new nation (Israel).
God also changed their names. Often, we need a new outlook on our identity to step into the fullness of what God wants to birth in us. God added “Ha” to Abram calling him Abraham. And he added “Ahh” to Sarai to call her Sarah! He wanted Sarah to relax. Instead of ‘ai yai yai’ she could say ‘ahhh’. ‘Ah’ and ‘Ha’ together make ahahahaha! God made laughter within them before He made laughter through them.
It is through laughter that Abraham and Sarah blessed the whole world, not through wealth, nor intellect, nor innovation, or through Nobel peace, but through Joy that was birthed out of faith. It was an intimate gift!
If you look at Genesis 12:3, it says that in him (Abraham) all the families of the earth will be blessed. I used to have this story memorized, or so I thought. But as I reread this story I was intrigued to see that it said all the families of the earth would be blessed, not nations or tribes or even peoples. Family is a much more intimate thought than a nation, or province, or even just the world. Families of the earth is a relational impact, it’s personal, it’s intimate, it’s our home and our hearts.
Joy is the same way. Joy is really personal. When we allow our joy giving Groom to make His home in our hearts we do more than laugh. We rejoice! We dance! We don’t care what anyone else says or thinks. Because, like Sarah, when the world sees what joy God has brought into our homes, the world will come over to rest and laugh with us. From our couches, from a place of rest, from a house of cheer, we too will be a blessing that spreads like wildfire to all families, just like the family of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac.
