Bible Study Online
"Then the Lord said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.'"(Genesis 18: 10) Now we find ourselves approximately one year after God had delivered this message to Abraham and Sarah. So the Lord was gracious to Sarah and He did what He had promised her? Sarah had indeed become pregnant and she gave birth to a boy, in which Abraham had obeyed God and named him Isaac. Now the name Isaac means "laughter." This name seems appropriate for the newborn, being that when God had first told Abraham about Isaac, he had laughed and had some doubt about what God had just told him. I find it strange that pastors and teachers don't really talk about Abraham laughing and doubting God's word, like they do when it comes to Sarah? "Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, 'Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?'" And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!" (Genesis 17: 17-18) Now when Sarah had heard the news a short while later, this is when she also laughed to herself and had doubted God's word. "So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, 'After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure." (Genesis 18: 12) Now I'm going to cut the pastors and teachers some slack? If I were to guess the reason why they seem to point out Sarah's doubt over Abraham's. It could be perhaps, Sarah tried to hide her doubt and God had called her out on it. Abraham, when he had laughed, he did not try to hide his doubt and was very upfront with God. But as for me, I can't say that I blame them for their skepticism, after all just like Abraham had stated before, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" If I was in his position, I would have asked the same thing and I'm not ashamed to confess to that. We ought to be proud that we have an opportunity and privilege that no other creature has? Being able to have a personal relationship with God, that is so close, that we can actually call Him out on things that He has promised us. The more we learn how to trust Him more, the less we are apt to call Him out on the promises that He had made concerning us. This is one of the many reasons why I admire the relationship that Abraham had with God? He wasn't afraid to talk and have a little debate with the Almighty one. And God love him for it. Now we find that Sarah who had once laughed because she doubted God. Now she is laughing because of the happiness and joy that the birth of Isaac had placed within her heart. "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," Sarah would announce as she held her newborn son Isaac. Start at the Beginning: The Introduction of Abraham 16) Abimelech Angry with Abraham 17) <-CURRENT PAGE-> 18) Hagar & Ishmael 19) Hagar the Mother of a Great Nation 20) Abraham & The Well of Oath 21) Abraham & The Great Sacrifice 25) Rebekah gets Permission to Leave 28) The Twelve Rulers of Ishmael 
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