Laughter And Tears

by PRASHER, G. | Category: The Patient Patriarch | Jun 2003

His name means 'laughter'; a name chosen by God before his birth. For Sarah, his ninety-year old mother, had laughed sceptically when she overheard the Angel of the LORD tell Abraham that he would have a son by her. Now with the promised infant in her arms she said, '"God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me"' (Gen.21:6). Abraham's household rejoiced: their mouth was 'filled with laughter', and their 'tongue with singing' as one psalmist described overflowing joy (Ps.126:2).

A child of promise, a child of destiny, Isaac thrived in Sarah's tender love and under his father's watchful care. What joy would fill their hearts with each delightful stage of Isaac's growth through infancy, to his first faltering steps, and then to see him after the manner of toddlers inquisitively exploring the ins and outs of the richly appointed encampment.

Laughter and tears! It could not be joy and sunshine all the way. Nor can it be for any of us. We learn from Bible illustration the deep wisdom of God, His purposes in the mingling of laughter and tears in experience with Him: a truth reflected in Anne Proctor's perceptive lines:

We thank Thee more, that all our joy

Is touched with pain,

That shadows fall on brightest hours,

That thorns remain;

So that earth's bliss may be our guide,

And not our chain.

It was a joyful occasion when Isaac was weaned. Abraham made a great feast that day. Sadly, things were soured through Sarah's drawing attention to Ishmael's mocking of Isaac, and her harsh demand that Hagar and Ishmael should be expelled: '"Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac"' (Gen.21:10). How deeply distressing to Abraham that his older son, now probably about seventeen, should have to be banished. He anguished over it before the LORD, but was told to concede Sarah's demand. Graciously, God showed His servant that the choice of Isaac as the son in whom special divine purpose was vested made Ishmael's departure necessary. Nevertheless, from Ishmael, too, there would arise a nation, because he was Abraham's seed.

Early in the morning Abraham gave effect to God's direction. As he watched mother and son disappear forlornly into the unknown, were his eyes dim with tears? Were Hagar and Ishmael also weeping as they felt the wrench of alienation from accustomed family and friends? How often, when laughter has turned to tears, we need to cling implicitly to the promises of God. As one who knew bitter experiences of mental stress exhorts in his well known hymn:

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain. (W. Cowper)

PRASHER, G. | Jun 2003
The Patient Patriarch