Genesis 17: Laugh at the Lord?

Key Verse
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
 
Meditation
The Lord’s faithfulness is no joke, but His relentless commitment to keep His promise can be laughable. Age does not phase God’s covenant purpose. God’s sovereign grace accomplishes the impossible, extraordinary work through ordinary people.
 
Emphasizing age, the narration in today’s reading highlights that Abram was ninety-nine when God reveals the timing of His promised fulfillment. The New Testament reflects on Abram and Sarai’s condition by describing them as “as good as dead” (Romans 4:19; Hebrews 11:12). Beyond human comprehension and biological categories, the Lord remains faithful to keep His word.
 
God promises to make Abram “the father of a multitude of nations,” renaming him Abraham. God promises Sarai would become Sarah, a princess who would birth “kings of peoples.” The lineage of promise would not continue to the child already born to Abram by Hagar, but rather he would be impossibly conceived in Sarah’s barren and very old womb. The child would be named Isaac, meaning “he laughs.” The sign of trusting God for this promise was circumcision for Abram and his household, laughable obedience for a 99-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy.
 
Laughing lingers in the story, later voiced by Sarah (18:12-15; 21:6) as she discovers “nothing is impossible for the Lord” (18:14). This laughable lineage carries God’s promise through increasingly improbable terrain, ultimately finding its fullness in the womb of a virgin, Mary, the mother of Jesus.
 
God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promise to bless the nations is not dependent on human performance or natural laws. God works His grace in extraordinary ways, bringing about the impossible for the glory of His name. 
 
Today’s Reading
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” 
 
9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” 

Isaac’s Birth Promised
15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” 
 
22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. 
 
Richly Dwelling
-Do you live by what you see and understand, therefore laughing at God’s plan to keep His promises? Do you REALLY believe nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ, that He will redeem all He allows through Christ, and that with Christ you can have a peace that surpasses understanding?
 
-What does it reveal about the Lord that He is not stopped by the laughing, but engages it by commanding the covenant child of promise be named, “He laughs”?
 
-Where do you need to trust more in God’s promise, living by faith rather than fear in what seems “as good as dead”? Be specific.
 
Key Verse
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”