CHAPTER 18
SARAH LAUGHS AT GOD
Good day to all of you. Let's join Abraham once again as he
waits for the promise of the Lord to be fulfilled. That is ... The promise that he and Sarah will have their own son in their old age.
One day Abraham was sitting at the doorway of his tent, and
when he looked up, he saw three men coming near. Now it is a custom in
Israel that strangers are to be treated as well as, if not better than
family. Abraham ran to meet them, bowed
to the ground and said, My Lord, if I have done well in your eyes, please
don't pass by, but stay and wash your feet and rest under the tree. I'll
bring some bread and you can relax.
But, just who are these three people? Abraham addressed one as "My
Lord," and you may know who it is when God manifests Himself in the flesh on earth. The other two will later be identified as two angels of the Lord when they
save Lot and his family from destruction at Sodom. Know who these three are?
It was Jesus and two of His angels. (Jesus confirms this in the New Testament when he says
that Abraham was glad to see Him and this statement puzzled all of the
Pharisees. Now you know what He meant. Let's get back to the story.)
So Abraham hurried into the tent and told Sarah to quickly make
some loaves of bread and to use the best flour. Then he ran out to the
herd, brought in a young calf and gave it to one of his servants who hurried
to prepare it.
When the food was ready, he brought it to them with butter and
milk and waited on them as they ate under the tree. That's
right Jesus and the Angels did eat. Isn't that cool?
They asked Abraham, Where is Sarah, your wife? And he answered,
In the tent. Then the Lord said to him, Sarah will have a son. Sarah heard
it in the tent door which was behind Him.
Sarah laughed to herself saying, I am this old and I
will have the pleasure of a child, and Abraham too?
The Lord then asked Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Will I
really have a child, being so old? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At
the chosen time I will return to you and Sarah will have a son.
Then Sarah, overhearing from behind them said, I didn't laugh, because it
troubled her that He knew. Jesus replied, No, but you did laugh and
said the name of the child would be Isaac which means "laughter".
Jesus brought a little piece of humble pie for Sarah to have for
dessert.
After that, the men got up and looked toward Sodom and Abraham
walked with them a short way to see them off. As they were leaving, Jesus
told Abraham that because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah was so loud, and the
sin there was so dreadful, He was going to see if it was as bad as it's cry
that came to Him, and He would know if it wasn't.
As they started off toward Sodom, Abraham, knowing that Lot and
his family were there, delayed their leaving, asking, Will you destroy the
righteous along with the wicked? It wouldn't be like you to do that. What
if there are fifty righteous in the city? Will you spare it for them?
The Lord answered, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous
souls, then I'll
spare the whole place for their sakes.
Abraham asked again, this time saying, I know I'm just dust and
ashes, but what if there are forty righteous? And the Lord said He would
not do it for forty's sake.
Abraham persisted, asking about thirty, then twenty, and finally
he said, I don't want to make you angry, but I have to ask this last time,
suppose there are ten. And the Lord said, I will not destroy it for ten's
sake. Then the Lord went his way when He was done speaking with Abraham and
Abraham went back to his tent.
You've got to admire the courage of Abraham for asking again and
again. Remember that fact in your own prayers. It is not a bad thing to ask repeatedly for something. There is a story in the New Testament about this as well (Luke 18:1-8) about a persistent
widow that you will enjoy. At any rate, Abraham was a man with a big heart and he loved his nephew. Lot had come
a long way with him and Abraham thought he was a righteous soul, so he most
probably didn't view his action as being brave at all, but simply, the right
thing to do.
Remember the mention of Lot being in the wrong place at the
wrong time in an earlier story? Well, in the next Daily Bread story, you'll read all about it, so come back
and see what happens.
