Is Anything Too Wonderful for the Lord?
Happy Father’s Day. I pray and hope that for all fathers today that you feel loved and appreciated. You do hard work for so many continually — and we thank you.
This past week I went sailing. For two days. Before I went Amy Schick thoughtfully placed on my desk and gave me this beloved coin which says, “We can’t control the wind, we can only adjust our sails”. I absolutely love it and I obviously needed it, because in those two days my home literally began falling apart and I had to come home. My home ran out of water on Saturday and I had arranged for a well guy to come and put in a new pump (which I thought was my problem) on Monday, so I thought the problem was at least mostly dealt with. It turns out I was told the well was dry and I had to get home to help handle the problem.
In the meantime, I was out sailing. And I had two glorious days of sailing, before I had to adjust my sails and head home to deal with my well situation. I was sailing with a complete stranger, out of Annapolis Maryland. When I met him, I asked if there was anything I needed to know. He said at that point, “Well, yes, I am color-blind”. I sort of laughed because seeing colors while out on the big water is a sort of big deal, buoys and signs are different colors and they each have different meanings, red and green are big deals. But I can see and it would be fine, I could follow the water signs. Then, as we began to sail the next day, I asked again, “Is there anything else I might need to know?” and he finally confessed that he could see very little, for he was legally blind. I began to laugh as here I was out on the water with a legally blind stranger, “Oh, this is going to make a great story — my church is going to love this!”
We had a great couple of days before I had to get off of the boat to return home. And I will sail with him again — because he could sail and because we had to continually be communicating I was able to learn a lot — and he was patient with all of my questions and I am helpful in navigating a boat.
In our Old Testament text today, Sarah also laughed. Her laughter was not necessarily the laughter of levity, but rather a laughter of disbelief. Not because she was happy and found something funny, but it was a laugh that is tinged with cynicism and disbelief. You may be familiar with the back story.
Abraham and Sarah were old in our text today. They had been promised that Abraham would become the father of a great nation back in Genesis 12. Years passed and no child had been born, so Abraham and Sarah decided to solve the problem themselves by “giving” Hagar, Sarah’s handmade to Abraham as a concubine. Hagar became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham and they named him Ishmael. They thought they had solved the problem for God - now Abraham had the possibility of becoming the father of a great nation — he had an heir.
God became more specific in his promise after this, assuring Abraham that Sarah would be blessed and that God would give Abraham a son by Sarah. (Genesis 17:15-16) And she would give rise to nations, kings of peoples shall come from her (17:15-16) (Ishmael we are also told in Genesis 17 went on to become the father of many nations — and traditionally is considered the father of Islam). Two great nations came from Abraham.
It was a wonderful promise, (that Sarah would have a child) , but at that time, Sarah was old and Abraham fell on his face laughing we are told and Abraham reminded God that they already had Ishmael and Abraham asked God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!” (17:18). Ishmael was eventually sent away, but Abraham was his father and was looking out for him and asked God’s blessings upon him. Fatherhood is not always perfect - Abraham was far from perfect but he did the best he could.
23 years had intervened between that promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12 and our text today in Genesis 18.
Today, childless Sarah overhears a conversation between Abraham and some strangers he had invited into their home, and one of the strangers again reiterates that Sarah would have a son. Sarah laughed. She laughed because she was old and her time to have children was behind her. Her laughter was not from joy but rather disbelief, a sort of, “Yeah, right.”
The Lord asked Abraham why Sarah laughed, for “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
That is my question for us today, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
We pray and we ask the Lord for things and we stand amazed and in awe when we know the Lord has answered our prayers and heard our cries. Sometimes we may even ask hesitantly or we act in ways of unbelief, not really believing that what we ask for from God may come true, sometimes we may waver in our belief that God may truly bless us.
Psalm 116:1 today begins, “I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him”. The Psalm is full of joy and praise and recognition for all the good things the Lord has done for the psalmist.
Sarah conceived and had a son, and Abraham was in his old age. He was a 100 we are told when his son Isaac was born to him. They named him Isaac, and Isaac means laughter.
Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” This laughter was not laughter of disbelief, but this time Sarah’s laughter is laughter filled with joy mingled with astonishment and with awe — and belief — and a deepened and humbled faith.
God has promised many things to us. Romans 5 tells us we are justified by faith and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. (Romans 5: 1-2) Sarah and Abraham were able to share the glory of God through the birth of their son Isaac in their old age, against all human possibility.
The text from Romans today goes on to say that we boast in our sufferings, “Knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
Back to my sailor. He was born blind. Because of this, I believe, he strove all of his life to overcome this perceived weakness. This suffering of not being able to see, produced endurance in him. The man could sail. He was a literal physicist. And he was humble. He had not given up and given in to what life had dealt him. He endured. “And endurance produces character, and character produces hope,” we are told in Romans.
He is a computational physicist, whatever that is. He is smart. And physically he is strong and nimble. He endured. He had developed a strong character, and he was making his dream of going around the world sailing a reality by the hope that been produced in him, an awareness of and confidence in his abilities. He was making his dream come true.
So I laughed on the boat. In unbelief at the beauty of this human and what God had done.
Sarah laughed in Genesis in unbelief, and then in joy at what God did in giving her Isaac, who would become the father of many nations.
Laughter is good for the soul. We hopefully have all had times where we have laughed so hard we cried — and studies have been done where laughter is good for your health. Cultivating levity and being able to lighten up is essential to well-being many experts say. Your body needs to relax and levity is essential to not taking everything so seriously. When you laugh there are positive changes to your heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension.
“And endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint.” Romans 5
Hope does not disappoint us it tells us in Romans (5:3-5) because God’s love has been poured into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, proving his love for us. (Romans 5:1-8)
Our hope is based on the promise that Christ died for us, and his death was sufficient for us — to give us life — life everlasting.
God keeps His promises to us. He kept his promise to Abraham and Sarah - He will keep his promises to us. And that should cause us on some days, to laugh with joy. Even when we can’t control the wind. Amen.
This past week I went sailing. For two days. Before I went Amy Schick thoughtfully placed on my desk and gave me this beloved coin which says, “We can’t control the wind, we can only adjust our sails”. I absolutely love it and I obviously needed it, because in those two days my home literally began falling apart and I had to come home. My home ran out of water on Saturday and I had arranged for a well guy to come and put in a new pump (which I thought was my problem) on Monday, so I thought the problem was at least mostly dealt with. It turns out I was told the well was dry and I had to get home to help handle the problem.
In the meantime, I was out sailing. And I had two glorious days of sailing, before I had to adjust my sails and head home to deal with my well situation. I was sailing with a complete stranger, out of Annapolis Maryland. When I met him, I asked if there was anything I needed to know. He said at that point, “Well, yes, I am color-blind”. I sort of laughed because seeing colors while out on the big water is a sort of big deal, buoys and signs are different colors and they each have different meanings, red and green are big deals. But I can see and it would be fine, I could follow the water signs. Then, as we began to sail the next day, I asked again, “Is there anything else I might need to know?” and he finally confessed that he could see very little, for he was legally blind. I began to laugh as here I was out on the water with a legally blind stranger, “Oh, this is going to make a great story — my church is going to love this!”
We had a great couple of days before I had to get off of the boat to return home. And I will sail with him again — because he could sail and because we had to continually be communicating I was able to learn a lot — and he was patient with all of my questions and I am helpful in navigating a boat.
In our Old Testament text today, Sarah also laughed. Her laughter was not necessarily the laughter of levity, but rather a laughter of disbelief. Not because she was happy and found something funny, but it was a laugh that is tinged with cynicism and disbelief. You may be familiar with the back story.
Abraham and Sarah were old in our text today. They had been promised that Abraham would become the father of a great nation back in Genesis 12. Years passed and no child had been born, so Abraham and Sarah decided to solve the problem themselves by “giving” Hagar, Sarah’s handmade to Abraham as a concubine. Hagar became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham and they named him Ishmael. They thought they had solved the problem for God - now Abraham had the possibility of becoming the father of a great nation — he had an heir.
God became more specific in his promise after this, assuring Abraham that Sarah would be blessed and that God would give Abraham a son by Sarah. (Genesis 17:15-16) And she would give rise to nations, kings of peoples shall come from her (17:15-16) (Ishmael we are also told in Genesis 17 went on to become the father of many nations — and traditionally is considered the father of Islam). Two great nations came from Abraham.
It was a wonderful promise, (that Sarah would have a child) , but at that time, Sarah was old and Abraham fell on his face laughing we are told and Abraham reminded God that they already had Ishmael and Abraham asked God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!” (17:18). Ishmael was eventually sent away, but Abraham was his father and was looking out for him and asked God’s blessings upon him. Fatherhood is not always perfect - Abraham was far from perfect but he did the best he could.
23 years had intervened between that promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12 and our text today in Genesis 18.
Today, childless Sarah overhears a conversation between Abraham and some strangers he had invited into their home, and one of the strangers again reiterates that Sarah would have a son. Sarah laughed. She laughed because she was old and her time to have children was behind her. Her laughter was not from joy but rather disbelief, a sort of, “Yeah, right.”
The Lord asked Abraham why Sarah laughed, for “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
That is my question for us today, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
We pray and we ask the Lord for things and we stand amazed and in awe when we know the Lord has answered our prayers and heard our cries. Sometimes we may even ask hesitantly or we act in ways of unbelief, not really believing that what we ask for from God may come true, sometimes we may waver in our belief that God may truly bless us.
Psalm 116:1 today begins, “I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him”. The Psalm is full of joy and praise and recognition for all the good things the Lord has done for the psalmist.
Sarah conceived and had a son, and Abraham was in his old age. He was a 100 we are told when his son Isaac was born to him. They named him Isaac, and Isaac means laughter.
Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” This laughter was not laughter of disbelief, but this time Sarah’s laughter is laughter filled with joy mingled with astonishment and with awe — and belief — and a deepened and humbled faith.
God has promised many things to us. Romans 5 tells us we are justified by faith and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. (Romans 5: 1-2) Sarah and Abraham were able to share the glory of God through the birth of their son Isaac in their old age, against all human possibility.
The text from Romans today goes on to say that we boast in our sufferings, “Knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
Back to my sailor. He was born blind. Because of this, I believe, he strove all of his life to overcome this perceived weakness. This suffering of not being able to see, produced endurance in him. The man could sail. He was a literal physicist. And he was humble. He had not given up and given in to what life had dealt him. He endured. “And endurance produces character, and character produces hope,” we are told in Romans.
He is a computational physicist, whatever that is. He is smart. And physically he is strong and nimble. He endured. He had developed a strong character, and he was making his dream of going around the world sailing a reality by the hope that been produced in him, an awareness of and confidence in his abilities. He was making his dream come true.
So I laughed on the boat. In unbelief at the beauty of this human and what God had done.
Sarah laughed in Genesis in unbelief, and then in joy at what God did in giving her Isaac, who would become the father of many nations.
Laughter is good for the soul. We hopefully have all had times where we have laughed so hard we cried — and studies have been done where laughter is good for your health. Cultivating levity and being able to lighten up is essential to well-being many experts say. Your body needs to relax and levity is essential to not taking everything so seriously. When you laugh there are positive changes to your heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension.
“And endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint.” Romans 5
Hope does not disappoint us it tells us in Romans (5:3-5) because God’s love has been poured into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, proving his love for us. (Romans 5:1-8)
Our hope is based on the promise that Christ died for us, and his death was sufficient for us — to give us life — life everlasting.
God keeps His promises to us. He kept his promise to Abraham and Sarah - He will keep his promises to us. And that should cause us on some days, to laugh with joy. Even when we can’t control the wind. Amen.