LAUGHING WITH MERCY AND SARAH

Gen.18:10-12 – And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

Hebrews 11 helps us connect the dots of the supernatural nature of faith and the unseen world of the Spirit. To the natural man faith is just a decision. To the spiritual man he realizes that faith came into his world supernaturally. When Sarah first heard that she would become pregnant at 90 years old she laughed at the absurdity of that notion. How could a barren woman become pregnant at 90 years old, impossible!!! Somehow those words from the angelic messengers began to settle in on Sarah and her laugh of unbelief became the laughter of faith. As a matter of fact she named her son Isaac which was the Hebrew word for laughter. Why such a crazy name? Sarah said it was because everyone who heard her story would have to laugh too. Here is how Charles Spurgeon describes this crazy event.

“I would have all those that hear of my great deliverance from hell, and my most blessed visitation from on high, laugh for joy with me. I would surprise my family with my abundant peace; I would delight my friends with my ever-increasing happiness; I would edify the Church with my grateful confessions; and even impress the world with the cheerfulness of my daily conversation. Bunyan tells us that Mercy laughed in her sleep, and no wonder when she dreamed of Jesus; my joy shall not stop short of hers while my Beloved is the theme of my daily thoughts. The Lord Jesus is a deep sea of joy: my soul shall dive therein, shall be swallowed up in the delights of his society. Sarah looked on her Isaac, and laughed with excess of rapture, and all her friends laughed with her; and thou, my soul, look on thy Jesus, and bid heaven and earth unite in thy joy unspeakable.”

I experienced this supernatural laughter myself several years ago when I was touched powerfully by the Holy Spirit. My sudden and surprising joy was a shock to my church, family, and friends. What convinced my wife of the authenticity of what was happening to me was that I was soon laughing in my sleep. It’s pretty hard to fake laughing during sleep, this was clearly a sign from the Lord. Joy had visited me and I became swallowed up in this new world of faith; I had been awakened by God’s supernatural joy and the unseen world of the Holy Spirit had become very real in my life.