Focus: Divine Laughter

Text: Gen.21:6

"And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me."

At 90 years of age, Sarah is carrying her only child. At 100 years of age, Abraham is celebrating the birth of his promised child - the covenant baby.

About a year before he was born, God said, "Thou shalt call his name ISAAC..." - Gen.17:19.

Then at last, the prophetic momentum became prophetic fulfillment, for the Word says, "And the LORD VISITED Sarah as he had said, and the LORD DID unto Sarah as he had spoken" - Gen.21:1.

God said it, and God did it. He spoke the impossible and fulfilled the incredible. In Gen.21:3, we read, "And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, ISAAC."

As God performed His promise, Abraham also complied with God's instruction by calling the child, Isaac. That's in Hebrew, Yitzhak, meaning, 'he will laugh,' or 'laughter.' Can you see that God is real fun, holy laughter and infinite joy? This is free, outright, and full-bellied laughter, the kind that causes tears to flow. God-prompted laughter. Deep seated laughter. God is the reason for this laughter. God puts in your hands a reason to laugh and rejoice.

Miracle in old age. Twilight years wonder. My God never ceases to amaze me.

In old age Sarah is spreading laughter. Contagious laughter. Scandalous joy. God turns Sarah's momentary laughter into a permanent reality.

God spoke the impossible, causing Sarah to laugh. God did the outrageous, making laughter a permanent experience of her life. She knew lasting laughter.

God is the maker of original and authentic laughter. I am talking about laughter from within, from the heart, from the lungs, from the bowels. Laughter is God's gift. Sarah couldn't laugh on her own. God made it happen for her, and because of her, others in their numbers could laugh. Those God makes laugh, make others laugh too!

Isaac was a miracle child. Miracles are the stuff laughter is made of.

I pray and declare that God will give you the miracle of laughter and joy. By the Spirit I declare boldly that God will give you a miracle at your own age. God will meet you at your young age, middle age, or old age - whatever is your age. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter