Laughter and Tears
Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit of God, help me today to think clearly without confusion, to speak clearly without rancor and to decide courageously for You.
Read Genesis 21:1–21
21 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.”
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[c] began to sob.
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Reflect
As Betsie ten Boom said, “There is no pit so deep that He [God] is not deeper still” (as told by her sister Corrie ten Boom).
Sarah’s disbelieving laugh has become joyful laughter by the start of this passage and she anticipates that others will laugh with her when they hear the story. However, her laughter is soon stilled by Ishmael’s jesting or making sport (9), though it appears to be her own jealousy that is really the problem, for she fears that Ishmael will share in Isaac’s inheritance. The word for Ishmael’s behavior (and we’re not entirely sure what, if anything, he did wrong—perhaps he mocked Isaac) has the same root as “laugh,” so even in the text there are literary hints of rivalry.
Laughter is the domain of Isaac (“Isaac” means “he laughs”) and not Ishmael, though laughter is over for everyone at this point. Sarah is upset, Abraham is distressed when Sarah demands that Hagar and Ishmael go and Hagar weeps. Isaac may have brought laughter to Sarah but he indirectly brings tears to Hagar, though it is her own son who is the direct cause. Interestingly, when God responds to Hagar, he says that he has heard the tears of the lad. Sarah and Isaac laugh, but Hagar and Ishmael weep.
Not only does God provide for their immediate need (water) but he promises Hagar (as he has previously promised Abraham) that Ishmael would grow into a great nation. In other words, even when there is no possibility of hope, God intervenes to turn around the situation, completely, and bring blessing. We don’t know what will happen in life. We may hit rock bottom but we don’t know the outcome. Whether or not our situations change, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27). When we hit rock bottom, our feet are still on the Rock of Ages, and that is enough.
Apply
What does this story reveal about God’s faithfulness? How would you like to see God’s faithfulness impact your life?
Closing prayer
Father God, deliver me from petty jealousies which can be a blight on my life. I am reminded today of Your great faithfulness and thank You for it.
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