Faithful Laughter

I like to imagine Jesus with his disciples, sitting around the dinner table, maybe they are laughing over something said, maybe they are laughing over a spilled drink, regardless, I believe there was laughter.

There are two distinct mentions of laughter in the bible, two different women, both regarding the same circumstance: uncertainty.

Sitting in senior year of college I am faced with my own uncertainty. I get reminded of it often, by myself and others, it's the hot topic of conversation almost everywhere I go. Most questions look like this:

"What are you doing after graduation?"
"Where do you think you'll be living?"
"Is it weird that in 7 months you'll be somewhere else?"

What people don't know is every time one of theses is asked, another notch in the "sara freak out meter" rises.


I want to laugh with assurance that Jesus is greater than my uncertainty but i'm too afraid that this laughter will be the sound of disbelief instead.


Sarah and Abraham were, as the bible puts it "very old", not just old, but VERY old. So you can imagine what thoughts were rushing through her head when she overhead the promise being made to her husband, that they would conceive a child. We look at her and think, how could you laugh???? Do you not trust the Lord??? But let's be real here, I probably would have laughed too. I can't blame her, I just don't want to be her.

"So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Genesis 18: 12

My question is- how do we get to a place where the laughter is matched with faith, and it's a sound of peace and assurance instead of disbelief and fear?

There's another passage covering laughter, one that we have all heard at every woman's talk:

"She is clothed with STRENGTH and dignity, she can laugh at the days to come." Proverbs 31:25

This woman laughs too. She laughs at her circumstances, her future and her uncertainty because she has tapped into the source of peace. The future to her isn't scary, it's exciting.
She can do this because she is clothed in strength: that strength that the bible is talking about is not our own strength, but only that of the Lord.


There are two distinct differences with these two woman:

Laughter in the disbelief: Sarah can't see past her human head knowledge, to understand that "His ways are not our ways" She is not laughing out of trust, she is laughing out of disbelief, like it's just too crazy to actually happen. Too often we are Sarah, we just can't see how it could work out so God's plans become comical to us.

Laughter in the belief: The woman in Proverbs is laughing because she knows that she is taken care of, so to stress out over the uncertain, is just well, laughable. She sits secure at the feet of Jesus, taking in all of his promises because she has tapped into the peace that surpasses all understanding. She laughs, not because Jesus is a great joke teller but because she is found and secure in the promises he has given us.


I feel like I'm on a crossroad, my laughter can go either way, I could look at God and laugh because those dreams he has placed in my heart, those plans he wants for me, are just too crazy, they aren't possible. But that's not the response he calls us to. I want to laugh at my days to come because I can trust in my faithful father who has carried me this far, no matter what is thrown at me, or how out of reach it may seem, I get to rest secure, no matter how crazy the situation he calls me into may look.

God shows up when the possible ends, and the impossible begins.
My prayer is that your days are filled with laughter that is matched with faith.
Trust his crazy plans for your life. Laugh off the uncertainty and sit in the security that you are His.