Why Did Sarah Laugh ?

And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Genesis 18:13

Sarah might have laughed because she had no more tears left to weep or cry for the fulfilment of the promise. Her tears might have been exhausted over the course of 25 long years, and out of the shortage of tears, laughter was emerging in their place. Maybe the 25 years of waiting for the promise had taken a toll on Sarah. She might be laughing for everything and at herself, irrespective of good or unpleasant things happening. There were no tears left, and her body reacted to everything with laughter. Sarah may not have laughed because it was a joke, but her tears were reflected as laughter. God spoke to Abraham frequently, but Sarah's experience was not like Abraham’s and it was different. Sarah might not have a direct and ongoing relationship with God as Abraham.

Since God spoke to Abraham regularly, Abraham was strengthened and was able to sustain 25 long years waiting for the promised child. But this was not the case for Sarah. Sarah had little or no comfort while waiting for the promise. Perhaps in the early days of waiting for the promise, she might have cried or wept for it. She might be mocked by her relatives and friends for believing the promise. But slowly over a period of time, the mocking, ridiculing and crying might have turned into a lot of sleepless nights, and eventually, to the point of having no tears to cry. Crying and mocking went into heart which turned into desperation, and finally to laughter.

Sarah might have wept till there were no more tears left. Because of the torments or mocking of people, her situation went from crying to sleepless nights to desperation to laughter. She might have laughed at herself for believing that - how could such a promise be fulfilled. The torment of relatives and delay in the fulfilment of the promise might have affected her heart, causing her to cry and then finally made her laugh at herself. Instead of crying, Sarah is laughing at herself. She seemed to mock herself by laughing at herself. She was short of tears and was laughing as a result of the torments. There are many people in our land (who have been waiting for their promises to be fulfilled) are now in state where they have no more tears left to cry and instead are laughing like Sarah. Laughing at herself, laughing because of others torments, laughing at God's promises, and so on.

May be you are also in a situation like Sarah, where you don't have any more tears to cry and have found an alternative to crying, such as laughter, anger and so on. If you are in such a situation where many years have passed and the promise has not yet been fulfilled, and you have no tears left to cry, there is a good news. In your laughter you will see your promise fulfilled. The place of defeat in front of your relatives will become the place of victory. Your years of struggle are never wasted. The years of waiting for the promise may have taken their toll on you. However, there is a day coming when God himself will visit you and begin to fulfil the promise.

Your laughter caused by sorrow will be turned into happy laughter caused by God. All of your sad laughter will be turned into happy laugher and all of your tears will be wiped away by the fulfilment of the promise. The only way we can sustain and endure waiting period for promise fulfilment for prolonged seasons, is by maintaining an ongoing relationship with God, in which God talks to you on a regular basis. Only His word can sustain you and get you through difficult times; otherwise, you will become weary and lose your purpose in life.