The Last Laugh

“Sarah laughed within herself” Genesis 18:12a

God spoke to Abraham and told him that in about a year's time, his wife would finally have the son that was promised to them all those years back. They had been waiting many years for the Lord to bring about His promises. They had become impatient and took matters into their own hands, and it was no laughing matter. Sarah had given her husband her maid to sleep with. She wanted a child so badly that she was willing to allow her husband to sleep with a younger woman. The Lord rejected that child as the one to inherit the promises God was giving to this couple. The works of the flesh will always be rejected by the Lord if ever they are offered up, if you don't believe me just look at Caine and Abel.

But the Lord had come in chapter 18 to give them a timeline of when the promise would happen. It would be in a year, Sarah would conceive and have a son. When the Lord and the two angels who were speaking to Abraham at his tent said this promise, Sarah was listening and laughed in her heart. She said, “really in my 90-year-old body I am going to have a baby from my 99-year-old husband!” The Lord heard all that she thought and spoke to herself! He knows the intent of our hearts and discerns our thoughts. Sarah's chuckle was one of disbelief, and cynicism. But the Lord responded and called her out on it! She tried to deny that she did not laugh. But she did, and she was busted.

The Lord asks a question: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” The answer is a resounding NO! Mary the mother of our Lord would also ask a question, but it was a question out of honesty not of doubt. The angel that was sent to Mary told her almost the same thing God tells Sarah in Genesis 18. The angels said, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” The two responses are different because the two hearts are different. One questions and believes and the other doesn’t believe and questions. Thankfully the answer is still the same: “No”. Nothing is too difficult or hard for God. It is such a simple yet important reminder for us that we can take anything before a strong, and mighty God. Nothing is too difficult, or unimportant that He won't help with. He is able and more than capable. We limit Him in our human reasoning and understanding.

In the end, God gets the last laugh by giving Sarah a son. Do you know what this son's name is? Isaac. Do you know what Isaac means? Laughter. God got the last laugh.

Take it all to Him; He can handle the big stuff, and small stuff alike.

Agape - Pastor Frank

To Go Up, Go Low

“By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.” Proverbs 22:4 nkjv

I have been meditating on this verse for the past several days now. I couldn’t help but see just how counter-culture, counter-humanity, and counter-flesh this statement is. Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:3) A prerequisite to inheriting the kingdom of heaven is humility. It got me thinking, why is God concerned with, and wants us to walk humbly? I suppose the opposite of humility is pride. Pride is the original sin. That is what got satan kicked out of heaven. The devil gloried in himself and exalted himself as he gazed at his own beauty. It was God who created him, it was God's handy work and design that satan (formally known as Lucifer) was who he was. He attempted to take glory from the Lord.

When we walk in pride, we are saying we have what we have, and are what we are, because of what we have done. That is contrary to what the Word of God tells us. “Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17a). Pride takes away from what God has freely given to us and we glory in it as if we gave it to ourselves. Humility says, “it is by the grace of God that I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Humility says, “For I know that within me (the flesh) dwells no good thing” (Romans 7:18). When we truly recognize our true condition, we will see that there is nothing to be prideful in. When we look in the mirror of God’s Word, we will see that there are many blemishes. The point of that is not to bum us out or depress us. The point is to see all those blemishes, acknowledge those imperfections, and understand that God loves me still.

When we walk in humility the Lord supplies us, provides us, and sustains life in us. God will exalt the humble, and gives them an inheritance. But for the prideful, their end is destruction, just like the devils. Let us be like Jesus, and walk in humility. Allow the Lord to promote you, not yourself.

Agape - Frank