Scripture Reading: Genesis 21:6-7
THE Lord heard Sarah’s skeptical laughter a year earlier when He promised her husband Abraham that they would have a child. Believing such a thing must have seemed to her like too much of a stretch. But then, this elderly woman’s uncertainty was turned into joy with the miraculous birth of her son. The baby was given the name Isaac, just as God had instructed Abraham in Genesis 17:19.
Isaac’s name means “one who laughs.” Sarah’s earlier disbelief at the possibility of being a first-time mother at age 90 now became a remarkable part of her testimony. She said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me … Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age” (21:6-7 NIV).
Instead of feeling embarrassed about her earlier struggle to believe the Lord, she now—with every mention of Isaac’s name—had the opportunity to remember God’s miracle: In one year, the Lord transformed the very nature of her incredulous laughter into a joyful testimony of His faithfulness.
