Laughing at God - Genesis 18:1-15

Occasionally we are asked to participate in live radio with one of the local radio stations. Live radio is interesting, because you sit in a room and talk to a microphone and hope that people are listening. When we take a break to play a song, we turn the mics off and just sit and talk with whoever is in the studio with us. These guys have become friends and we look forward to catching up with them. One time, however, we had a moment that concerned us a bit. While the music was playing and we were just sitting in the studio talking I got a text that said: “Your mics are still on!” There was a brief moment of panic, as we scrambled to turn the mics off, then as we tried to remember if we said anything that was going to get us in trouble!

In our case, we weren’t saying anything bad or anything that would be offensive. But maybe you’ve had the experience of talking about someone with someone else only to realize that the person you were talking about was standing within earshot. Even if you weren’t saying anything bad, there is still a brief moment of panic, as you worry that you might have offended that person.

Now, imagine if the person you were talking about was God! That’s the situation we have in our text this morning. Abraham’s wife, Sarah, finds herself unwittingly laughing at God, and then He calls her on it. Talk about an embarrassing turn of events! But there’s more to this account than just Sarah’s failure—we get to see God’s faithfulness, His grace, and a reminder of how we ought to treat our fellow man.

Entertaining Angels

We turn today to Genesis 18:1-15, where we pick up the story. If you recall, God had just promised Abraham that he would have a son who would be the fulfillment of his promise to make Abraham into a great nation. Abraham assumed God was referring to Ishmael, but God reiterated that Abraham would have another son through whom this promise would be fulfilled. As a sign of His promise, God gave Abraham an instruction to circumcise all the men in his family and household, and he changed his name from Abram to Abraham.

We don’t know how much time passed between the events of chapter 17 and the events of chapter 18, but in this morning’s text, Abraham unexpectedly has this same promise reaffirmed to him.

The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. 2He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.

3“My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while. 4Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet. 5And since you’ve honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey.”

“All right,” they said. “Do as you have said.” 6So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, “Hurry! Get three large measures of your best flour, knead it into dough, and bake some bread.” 7Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a tender calf and gave it to his servant, who quickly prepared it. 8When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees. (Genesis 18:1-7, NLT)

Our text tells us that the Lord appeared to Abraham, but it seems like Abraham didn’t know this was the Lord until much later in the encounter. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. This was common practice at that time (and in many parts of the world, still is). You would work all morning, have some lunch, and then rest for an hour or so while the sun was at its highest point, resuming your work as it started getting a bit cooler.

So as Abraham was sitting in his tent, resting, possibly even dozing off a bit, suddenly he noticed three men standing nearby. He ran to them and invited them to sit in the shade so he could treat them as guests. We don’t know whether Abraham was simply being hospitable or whether he suspected these men were something special, but it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that he immediately took the time to care for these men who showed up seemingly out of nowhere.

Who are these men? If we read ahead a bit, we discover that one of the men was God himself! In other words, this is likely an appearance of Jesus (the second person of the trinity) before he came to earth! He likely didn’t know it, but Abraham was standing face to face with God in the flesh!

So, who are the other two men? There is some debate on this, but most likely these two men are angels. They are the ones who scope out the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the next chapter. Again, we have no indication that Abraham knew who these men were, but he went out of his way to take care of them and treat them well. He gets a bowl of water for them to wash their feet, has Sarah make some fresh bread, and has a choice calf slaughtered in order to feed his guests.

I believe this is instructive for us as well. We should always be willing to care for those around us, because doing so pleases God. In the book of Hebrews, the author may have had Abraham in mind as he wrote these words,

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! (Hebrews 13:2, NLT)

And during Jesus’ ministry He told his disciples a story that included this dialogue,

Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

40“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ (Matthew 25:37b-40, NLT)

The lesson we should learn from Abraham here is that when we are kind to others, we are honoring the Lord, whether directly or indirectly. We should be willing to go out of our way to care for the needs of others, because when we do so, we are treating the Lord with care as well. Abraham may not have known he was showing such honor to the Lord himself, but his character ensured he didn’t miss the opportunity. We would be wise to make sure we don’t miss an opportunity to care for others as well.

Sarah’s Laughter

After Abraham had shown these visitors hospitality, the topic of conversation turned to Abraham’s wife, Sarah.

9“Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked. “She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied. 10Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. 11Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. 12So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” 13Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ 14Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 15Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:9-15, NLT)

The visitors asked a question to which they already knew the answer, where is Sarah? She was in the tent, as would have been customary in that culture when male visitors were around. Apparently, she was listening to the conversation from inside. The angels reiterated God’s promise to Abraham earlier, but this time included Sarah in the promise. They said that this time next year, Sarah would have a son!

This was essentially the same prophecy given to Abraham in chapter 17, but with a specific timeframe attached. Sarah likely knew about the earlier promise, because she surely would have started asking for an explanation when Abraham started circumcising everyone! So this declaration likely wasn’t news to Sarah, but regardless, we are told Sarah laughed to herself, because at 90 years old, after being infertile her whole life, having gone through menopause long ago, and with her husband being 100 years old, the thought of the two of them having a child seemed utterly ridiculous. So she laughed. I almost wonder if it was kind of a snort of disbelief, like, “Yeah, right!”

While Sarah thought she was all alone inside the tent and no one could see or hear her laugh, the supernatural visitors did see her. Rather than addressing Sarah directly, one of the visitors (identified as the Lord), spoke to Abraham and asked a rhetorical question: “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

This is an important truth of which we must remind ourselves. Nothing is too hard for God. When we are tempted to say that something is impossible, we must remember that God has a track record of doing things that seem impossible.

Think about the history we see in the Bible. We see Sarah get pregnant and have a child at 90 years old. We see Mary have a child even though she was a virgin. We see grown, set-in-their-ways adults be born again late in life. God is the God of the seemingly impossible!

This means we should not give up hope nor despair when we face a task that seems insurmountable. No matter what the task before you, God is able to accomplish it. So when God gives us instructions, we should follow them even when they don’t seem like they could possibly work! Let me give you some examples:

The friend who seems so resistant to the gospel is not so far gone that God cannot change their heart. Keep faithfully loving them and pointing them to the truth.

The marriage that seems destined to fail doesn’t have to. Keep praying for God to change hearts (start with your own!) and keep doing everything you can to fight for that relationship. God can raise people from the dead, he can do the same for a marriage that’s on life support.

You can give faithfully to the Lord even when you aren’t sure how it will all work out. The God who supplied the needs of 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish can also provide for your needs if you trust Him.

The child or friend who seems headed down the wrong path is never too far gone. Keep praying, keep loving them, and keep pointing them to the Lord. Nothing is impossible with God.

When it feels like the only way to get ahead is to play by the rules the world follows (by being dishonest, tearing down your competition, or compromising in other ways), continue to be a person of integrity. God honors integrity.

We need to remember that nothing is impossible with God, so we should trust Him rather than doubting Him as Sarah did. God doesn’t always do things exactly the way we think He should or the way we think He will, but nothing is too hard for the Lord.

God’s Rebuke of Sarah

Upon hearing what the Lord said to Abraham, Sarah felt the need to defend herself. I don’t know whether she came out of the tent, whether they approached her, or how exactly the exchange took place, but Sarah denied laughing. In other words, she lied about her previous sin in order to cover it up! This is often the case with sin. It has a snowball effect. It’s better to avoid sin at the beginning, and when we do mess up, to own up to it and ask for forgiveness. But that’s not what Sarah did. She tried to lie to God!

God confronted her and caught her in her sin. He didn’t mince words, He simply told her the truth: “No, you did laugh.” Satan tells us to hide our sin from God (as though somehow that’s possible) because then we can avoid its consequences. We sometimes think we can sweep our sin under the rug and simply pretend it didn’t happen. Sometimes we can even convince ourselves of this! But God is not fooled. He will call our sin exactly what it is. He will not minimize it. But He also will not turn His back on us.

Part of the post-script to this story is that when Sarah finally does have her baby, the baby she has waited 90 years to have, she and Abraham decide to name their son Isaac, which means “he laughs”. After having this child, she finds herself laughing once more, and said the whole world will laugh with her. But this time her laughter is not because of unbelief, but because of joy. It is a laughter that marvels at God’s faithfulness and power. This time when she laughed, she couldn’t believe she didn’t trust God, because she truly understood that nothing was too hard for the Lord. She laughed because she knew others would be able to see God’s faithfulness through her.

It was a wonderful testament to God’s grace. Rather than condemning Sarah’s sin of unbelief and taking away the blessing He had promised her, God chose to turn everything on its head. He chose to take the laughter that had once condemned her and use it as a reminder of His great faithfulness.

Conclusion

This story has so many interesting facets, but it is also intensely practical. There are several lessons we should take away from this passage.

First, sometimes God shows up when we least expect it. Abraham was probably enjoying a nice rest from a hard day’s work when the Lord and the two angels show up at his tent. To his credit, Abraham didn’t miss the opportunity to serve the Lord.

I have heard it said before (and I believe it to be true) that some of the best opportunities for ministry present themselves as interruptions. Remember this when you believe you are too busy for the people around you. Rather than getting frustrated that you aren’t accomplishing the things you’ve put on your agenda, recognize that sometimes God has a different agenda for you. Be ready to minister to the people around you, even if (maybe especially if) it’s not particularly convenient. You never know who you might be serving, or how God might use your actions.

Second, honesty is the best policy. We spend much of our life trying to hide our sin, or to rationalize it away. The problem with this is that we are lying to ourselves and to God. That never ends well. God offers us grace and forgiveness, but the only way we can truly receive that is if we admit that we need forgiveness. We must learn to accept responsibility for our actions and not try to minimize them.

Think about it, have you ever had someone who apologized to you by saying something like this: “I’m sorry that what I did upset you?” That’s a cop-out apology that shifts the blame onto you! But so often we blame others for our sin or deny it outright. That isn’t what genuine repentance looks like. Healing and forgiveness begin when we are honest about our sin with God, ourselves, and the people around us. Trying to cover up or minimize our sin never ends well and robs us of the opportunity to be forgiven.

Third, we serve the God of the impossible. Much of the Christian life is an exercise in faith. We are often tempted to turn away from the Lord and go our own way because we don’t see how God’s way can possibly work. It doesn’t make sense. From a human perspective, some of the things God asks us to do seem impossible. But remember that we serve a God who loves to do things the world thinks can’t be done. He loves to use people the world thinks aren’t good enough. And he loves to redeem people He knows aren’t good enough.

So don’t give up on the people around you, and don’t give up on yourself. Recognize that God can work through any individual (even you!) to accomplish things you would have never thought were possible…because that’s what He does!

Finally, remind yourself that God has a funny way of redeeming our past failures to remind us of His faithfulness. Sarah was surely embarrassed about her lack of faith, even though it was understandable from a purely human perspective. But God used that momentary lapse in faith to forever remind her of His faithfulness. Every time she looked at her son, named “he laughs”, she was reminded of how God keeps His promises, and He can be trusted. It’s a wonderful reminder of the fact that God has a wonderful way of bringing beauty out of the broken things in our lives—if only we will let Him.

Here’s a challenge I want to give you this week: pay attention to the laughter you see all around you. Program yourself to think of this story any time you laugh or see others laugh. Like Sarah, learn to see laughter as a reminder of God’s faithfulness, a reminder that God always keeps his promises. And use that confidence to follow Him fully as you go through life. If you do, I’m confident that like Sarah, you will find yourself laughing joyfully at how wonderfully faithful our Lord really is.