Gen 21:6, And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." 
	This morning, let us look at one, very important reality in our living relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So often, we tend to take things for granted in our spiritual walk on this earth. We just seemingly exist from day to day, going through the repetitiveness of each day’s obligations. We have no appreciation for what is at the heart of even our every breath of life. We deal with the concerns and the trials and the delights as they just happen in our lives. We never consciously give God the credit and the place of honor that He deserves for the little things, much less some of the great things that take place.
	In this passage, we have the response of Sarah to the fact that, despite her advanced years, and the decades of her barrenness, God has now given her a son, Isaac. He is the boy of promise made to Abraham, her beloved husband. In her absolute amazement at this provision from God, she makes a statement that details how she is rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord. "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." 
	Sarah gave God the credit for her son and signified it with joy expressed in laughter. All those years of childlessness gave way to utmost joy for her and for those who witnessed the miracle of the gift of Isaac from God. This was not a transitory mirth, but a deep welling joy in the work of God. She knew that it could only be because God so ordained this son that she was delivered from her distress. 
So should we consider and appreciate every action of God on our behalf. We should find ourselves, not forgetting God when the deliverance comes, but rejoicing in His saving grace and tender mercies. As is often the reality of our lives, we come very close to God when we have a need, when we are suffering, when things are not pleasant and not running smoothly. We cry out to God in our distress and in our despair, beseeching Him to intervene in the tender salvation of His providence in our lives. When we are distraught and downtrodden, we find it very easy to come to God in humbleness and reverence, delighting in the feeling of His closeness at hand.
Then, when He does respond and He causes us to be delivered, we begin to lose that zeal and that desire after Him. When the good times flow forth from His divine throne, we begin to become complacent and take His mercy for granted. Rather than striving after that closeness with God, bathed in the glory of His intimacy, we begin to drift in our allegiance and in our pattern of seeing Him as our only means of deliverance. 
We must constantly guard our hearts, as did the Psalmist, and declare from the depths of our beings what is written in Ps 113:5-9. Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raises the poor from the dust, And lifts the needy from the ash heap, To make them sit with princes, With the princes of His people. He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord! 
	We are to be filled with the joy of the Lord at all times. It matters not whether we are in the midst of dire circumstances and dilemmas or in the throes of His wondrous and magnificent deliverance. Our hearts are to be filled with that inner joy which causes others to join with us in celebration of the goodness and the nearness and the generosity of the grace of God. 
	Let us read Ps 126 together. Ps 126, When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us; We are glad. Restore our captivity, O Lord, As the streams in the South. Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. 
Notice that there was gladness and joy in the recognition of the Hand of God in operation. There was much work that lay ahead of them. They had to rebuild and to till the soil and to plant and to water and to weed and to harvest. It was not a release from labor and strife, but it was a recognition that they were to be filled with joy and with laughter in the freedom from captivity that they received at the hand of the Lord God Almighty.
	This is to be the heart with which we join ourselves unto the Lord in the work that He gives us to do on this earth. It may not be pleasant or dignified or easy. It may well be back-breaking and sweaty and painful to the muscles and bones. Nonetheless it is to be accepted with the joy and the deep laughter of spirit and soul which sees it as the best that God has for us on this earth at this time. Rather than moaning and grousing, we should find ourselves every day rising with anticipation and rejoicing that we are enabled to do that which is God’s heart and plan for us. 
	The prophet Isaiah encourages us thusly in Isa 54:1-5. Please turn to it as we read it and rejoice in it together. Isa 54:1-5, "Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous Than the sons of the married woman," says the Lord. "Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your pegs. "For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations, And they will resettle the desolate cities. "Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; Neither feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. "For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the Lord of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. Amen.
	The Prophet points out the fact that we are married to God. He is our Husband and our Redeemer. In that we should be taking constant and urgent joy. A marriage is not an easy relationship as many of us well know, but it is one that builds and grows stronger and more vibrant as we work at it and give it the every effort of our heart and energy. That is the manner in which we are to envision our relationship with God. It takes constant tending and vigor and striving after all those elements which will build it up together. It cannot be accomplished by just one of the spouses. It requires the utter and absolute abandonment of both into the one bond. God has so given everything of Himself in Jesus Christ, Who gave up every right as God in order to be born of a virgin and to live a perfect life and to die on the cross for our sakes. As He was raised in victory, He sealed our covenant with His blood in our salvation. 
	So are we to give up all that we hold near and dear to ourselves and seek after only those things which honor Him in the joy that we are His Beloved Bride. That should elicit every ounce of joy from our hearts, no matter what we are undergoing for the temporary days of this life on earth. All of eternity lies gloriously before us in the light of His eyes and the embrace of His love. That is the reason that we have been created, to enjoin ourselves to God in Jesus Christ in an eternal bond of devotion, one to the other.
	As we read in Eccl 3:1-4, the elements of the suffering of this age are fleeting and temporary. All that we undergo is a living process under the Hand of God’s rule and His laws of nature which work to bring forth all that is His heart unto us. There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven — A time to give birth, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to tear down, and a time to build up. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance. 
We experience each of these times of God’s laws of creation. At every juncture, we are brought into a deepening understanding that without the salvation of God as our anchor in this life, we would never survive! He often gives us all those times of sorrow and anguish to work an ever increasing reliance upon Him. We also receive all those times of refreshment and healing in which we are soothed and invigorated to continue forth with our hearts set on Him. No matter which of these times we are currently encountering, we can rejoice fully in the fact that we are under the mighty Hand of God’s Omnipotence, and Omniscience, and Omnipresence. 
	As is pointed out in Job 8:19-21, "Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring. "Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers. "He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, And your lips with shouting. No matter what our view of the circumstances and the situations that seem to ceaselessly pound against the framework of our being, we know that God will make a way. In Him, we can fully anticipate deliverance and rejoicing, even now in the hope of His salvation.  
	Listen to the prayer of Hannah as she rejoiced in Him in the birth of her son, Samuel. This too was a woman who had suffered years of barrenness and all the terrible stigma of that day towards a woman who could not produce offspring. Then, in her complete dedication to the Lord, she recounts the attitude that should be upon our hearts even this very moment before Him.
	Turn with me to 1 Sam 2:1-10 as we read it together. Then Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the Lord; My horn is exalted in the Lord, My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I rejoice in Thy salvation. "There is no one holy like the Lord, Indeed, there is no one besides Thee, Nor is there any rock like our God. "Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; For the Lord is a God of knowledge, And with Him actions are weighed. "The bows of the mighty are shattered, But the feeble gird on strength. "Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, But those who were hungry cease to hunger. Even the barren gives birth to seven, But she who has many children languishes. "The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. "The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. "He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, And He set the world on them. "He keeps the feet of His godly ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; For not by might shall a man prevail. "Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered; Against them He will thunder in the heavens, The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn of His anointed." 
	The whole experience of humanity is portrayed in this prayer of thanksgiving and honor unto the Lord. This woman, so tried and abused by this world rejoices in the fact that God intervenes mightily in the lives of His chosen ones. He makes gladness and joy to abound to those in need. The haughty and the proud and the arrogant ones are brought low while those of meager means and tender hearts are brought forth to be exalted by the Lord. At every point, it is the Lord Who elevates and Who breaks asunder. She does not rely on any faculty of man to do what is right or to make amends or to provide encouragement or satisfaction. Her heart rejoices in the Lord and exalts His name alone. 
	What is the manner in which we see the events and the history of our lives and of those around us? How often do we neglect to recognize the Lord’s hand of operation as He elevates and as He brings low? We tend to be so apathetic to the ways of God in His everyday dealings in our lives that we cannot fully rejoice in all His goodness and graciousness in effectively working to establish a living relationship with us. We tend to think of Him in the great matters and in our times of intense distress, but forget about how He works in even the smallest details of life to show Himself and His every provision for our lives on this earth! 
	We need to examine our hearts before Him and see if we are filled with that singular joy of knowing God in the every manner of His way in us. We need to determine if we are giving ourselves wholly unto Him in the comportment of our selves as to how we regard Him as our Husband even at this time of our earthly lives. As we do so give ourselves unto the Lord, there will be that deepening joy in our knowledge of Him. In that joy, we will be the witnesses to others of that solid and unshakable reliance on God to see us through all the hardships of this age. Others will see and will join us in our hearty celebration of the goodness of God. We will rejoice together in Him, even in the midst of the utter decay and rubble of all those things that once drew our hearts from Him. So be it!
And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 111:2-4. Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work; And His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate. Amen.