A laughing matter by Gary Rose

 

The above bits of humor were sent to me by my friend, Bruce Arnold. I enjoyed them greatly and would like to say THANK YOU! I thought a bit about humor in the Bible and remembered several passages from the book of Genesis which involve Abraham and his wife Sarah. Hope you enjoy the humor ( and the irony of the situation )...

A doubting that is laughable

 

Gen 17 ( World English Bible )

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.

² I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”

³ Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying,

⁴ “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

⁵ Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will 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 nations of you. Kings will come out of you.

⁷ I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you.

⁸ I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.” …

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.

¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?”

¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

¹⁹ God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.

Gen 18 ( World English Bible )

¹ Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

² He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

³ and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.

⁴ Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

⁵ I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.” They said, “Very well, do as you have said.”

⁶ Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”

⁷ Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.

⁸ He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

⁹ They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He said, “See, in the tent.”

¹⁰ He said, “I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

¹² Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

¹³ Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’

¹⁴ Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Then Sarah denied, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

We often think of Abraham as a great man of faith and this of course is correct. But, both he and his wife Sarah laughed at the prospect of becoming parents in their old age. They doubted, but God turned that doubt into reality.

A Joyful laugh

Genesis 21 ( World English Bible )

¹ Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.

² Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

³ Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

⁴ Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵ Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him.

⁶ Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

If even Abraham, with his great faith, could doubt something that God had told him, don’t be surprised if occasionally we might stumble in some aspect of our faith. I especially like the passage from Genesis 21 because Sarah laughed at her own situation and gave glory to God. 

 

As for me, I will laugh at the jokes in life and remember that God really does have a sense of humor, which is often coupled with a tinge of irony. Life is GOOD, but with GOD it is great! I wonder, when God created man, did he name the bones he put into our bodies… if so, I wonder if it was HIM who had the idea of a funny bone….?

It is what it is and that's that by Gary Rose

Yesterday, while she was perusing Facebook, my wife Linda spotted this picture and remarked how beautiful it was. I looked at it and agreed, saying;”Now that is one beautiful bird”. Later, I looked at the Facebook page and noticed that the comments about it varied a lot. Some people stated that they thought the bird was very beautiful and others labeled it as a fake or even an abomination.

To my surprise, I kept thinking about this bird throughout the day. Finally, I said to myself: It is what it is and that’s that. Should the bird be a creation in the mind of man, that changes nothing- it is still beautiful; if it is the handiwork of God- it is still beautiful, but it also proclaims how wonderful God’s creations can be.

It should come as no surprise to those who know me that I prefer the second option. At the same time, I thought, sometimes people are so prone to criticize, that even those things that God Might Have Created are suspect. Unfortunately, they put themselves in a position of placing the wisdom and reason of human beings against the stated will of God. With that in mind, I remembered Acts 21 and a prophecy of one called Agabus…

Acts 21 ( World English Bible )

¹ When it happened that we had parted from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

² Having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard, and set sail.

³ When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo.

⁴ Having found disciples, we stayed there seven days. These said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

⁵ When it happened that we had accomplished the days, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed.

⁶ After saying goodbye to each other, we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.

⁷ When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the brothers, and stayed with them one day.

⁸ On the next day, we, who were Paul’s companions, departed, and came to Caesarea. We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

⁹ Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰ As we stayed there some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹ Coming to us, and taking Paul’s belt, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit: ‘So will the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

¹² When we heard these things, both we and they of that place begged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³ Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴ When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The Lord’s will be done.”

If something has the possibility of being “from God” do we immediately assume that is phony or are we spiritually enough minded to diligently search out the possibility of it being from the Almighty. More than this, are we willing to accept God’s will for our life and joyfully seek HIS desires for us? Good question. Now, reread Acts 21 (and especially verses 13f.) and ask yourself: what would you do if the Bible plainly told you to do something you did not want to do?