Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. "As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. "But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year." When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. (Genesis 17:15-22 NASB)
This is the main place this chapter overlaps with the next. In addition to the charge to circumcise, enough to fill a conversation all by itself, God also gives the timing of the child of promise, and the missing detail that he will come through Sarah (quick name change to grow her up, you know, now that she's 90 and all). The element about Sarah bearing a child is more than Abraham can bear, and he falls further on his face (see verse 3). It's as if he falls down laughing, so I imagine him going from a bowing position to rolling over holding his belly laughing.
I can only imagine all the emotion that the laughter contains. He has waited 13 years for another word from his Master, he has raised a son he loves, he has achieved a "grove", and now to have it interrupted...again. It couldn't have been easy wondering for the last 13 years where this child he invested his heart into would fit, or even if he would fit, into God's plan. Again with the life interruption. Again with the plan changes. It could very well have been that if Abraham hadn't laughed, he would have cried.
So now the name of the child will be Isaac, he laughs. Here it is Abraham laughing, yet still pushing for minimal disruption in his world. "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" A plea for the child he has come to love, his child, first born son, and the one he has poured 13 years into. God hears the plea, and His word to Abraham sounds a lot better than the "donkey man" speech He gave to Hagar. But it is clear that Ishmael will not be the chosen one. So what were the last 13 years about anyway?
This time next year Isaac will be here. One more year to wait and the child of promise will finally arrive. It's been 13, and now there is one more. What is the thing God is revealing about Himself that is so important? What do I learn about my Master from Abram's waiting 13 years for a name change and a "frag order"? What do I learn about my Master from dragging out the fulfillment of this promise, the gradual revelation of various details, the name changes, and the incorporation of the one not chosen? What's the lesson?
Who am I to put my Master in a box or framework to enable me to understand Him? When does it become possible that He will accommodate my timing over His own? What plan can I come up with that covers the bases, dots the i's and crosses the t's to a more thorough degree than His? Why do I continue to see the world around me through lenses I create, grind, and wear, knowing they distort the truth my Master wants me to see (I call these lenses 'fear')? Seriously, the lesson I believe in this passage for me is, "How long before I finally relent and let God be the Master of all?"
The laugh of Abraham could also have been one of relief. The peace missing for the last 13 years, caused by the tension of knowing that the child before you isn't the child of promise, but having no other alternative. The released tension of wanting desperately to hear the voice of his Master, yet being left to muddle or trudge through on his own; well at least feeling that way.
Perhaps what I need to learn is to laugh with Abraham; to release my tension and receive His peace; to finally drop my lenses; to finally disassemble my "framework" limiting my Master; to quit planning for Him, finally, and just let Him be the God Who Hears, Who laughs, Who sees me, and Who permits me to see Him and live. Maybe what I need is a good laugh. So, a horse walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "Why the long face?"
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