The Last Laugh

 "Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[a] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”
Genesis 17:19 (NIV)

What do you do when you've been holding onto a promise so long it starts to feel embarrassing?

Abraham knows that feeling. God makes him a specific promise for a specific people, in a specific place, for a specific period. Everlasting. And then God tells this hundred-year-old man and his ninety-year-old wife they're going to have a baby.

Abraham laughs. Sarah laughs. Who could blame them?

But notice what God does. He doesn't pull back the promise. He gives Abraham a covenant mark of circumcision to carry on his own body, something deeply personal and private. Every time Abraham sees it, he is reminded that God keeps his word.

Then God names the baby before he's even born. "You will call him Isaac." Isaac means laughter. Every single time Abraham calls that boy to dinner, every time Sarah whispers his name at bedtime, God gets the last laugh on every doubt they ever had.

Today, 18 million Jewish people are alive because a hundred-year-old man trusted a God who delivers on every promise.

You have promises from that same God written in that same Word. The question isn't whether He'll keep them. The question is whether you're watching for Him to do it. What’s one promise from Scripture you're standing on? Put it where you'll see it every day. He signed it. He'll deliver it.

When Isaac was finally born, Abraham and Sarah weren't the only ones laughing anymore.

Prayer: Lord, I've been holding onto something for a long time, and honestly there are days the doubt feels louder than the faith. But you named a baby Isaac before he took his first breath, and you delivered. You'll deliver on what you've promised me too. Help me watch for you this week instead of watching my circumstances. I trust you. In Jesus' Name, Amen.