Genesis 21 Devotional

Laughter Right on Time

“Now the LORD attended to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised.”Genesis 21:1 (BSB)

At the very time God had promised, Sarah gives birth to a son, and Abraham names him Isaac, as God had told him (21:1-3). Abraham is a hundred years old. Sarah, who once laughed in disbelief, now says God has brought her laughter, and that everyone who hears will laugh with her (21:6). Twenty-five years of waiting end exactly as God said they would.

The joy of the chapter is mixed with grief. At Isaac's weaning feast, Sarah sees Ishmael mocking and demands that Hagar and her son be sent away. The matter distresses Abraham greatly, but God tells him to listen to her and promises to make Ishmael a nation too (21:9-13). In the wilderness, when the water runs out, God hears the boy and opens Hagar's eyes to a well (21:17-19). Even in the painful parts of this family's story, God keeps every word. Paul says that all of God's promises find their yes in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). What God says he will do, he does, in his time.

To think about: What has God already done in your life that shows he keeps his word in his own time?