# 146 Having A Good laugh With God

The Book of Genesis Day 146 Ge 17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed Imagine praying to God. You are engaged in conversation with the creator of the universe, and He tells you something that he is going to do for you and you break out in uncontrollable laughter because it is so unbelievable! Where is the fear of the Lord here? Where is the holy awe? You know, in the beginning of this exchange between Abraham and the Lord, the first thing Abraham did was fall on his face in worship, and now he is falling on his face with laughter! This seemed so foreign to me, so opposed to my concept of prayer! I mean isn’t prayer supposed to be completely solemn? I can understand tears, but laughter? I was really struggling with this until one day, when I was praying with a group of pastors, I like Abraham broke out in laughter. It wasn’t anything delirious, but it was laughter. We were just praying in a circle, vocalizing some things that God was laying on our hearts, when one pastor said something that struck me as being funny. I didn’t plan to laugh, it just happened! The pastor wasn’t trying to be funny, it was just something that the Holy Spirit had moved him to verbalize, and I laughed. We laughed! Then I understood. Yes God is holy. He should be held in reverence and awe, but one of the miracles of the new life in Christ is the establishment of fellowship with God. We become friends again! (That in itself should cause us to laugh with joy!) Only a friend of God could get away with what Abraham did when God told him Sarah would bear him a child. He did a natural thing, he laughed! Seriously, do you think Adam walked with God in the Garden of Eden and never laughed? Not likely! (I’m guessing they were both laughing to tears when Adam was coming up with the names of all the animals!) The implication of this Hebrew word for laughter is “to make sport.” Abraham's laugh was the equivalent of "You gotta be kidding me!" It's the kind of exchange that real friends have license to do with one another, (just don’t cross the line from joviality to something hurtful.) Abraham’s laughter was not contrived, it was real….heartfelt, and isn’t that what prayer is all about? It’s being real with your Friend, Your Father, and your holy God! As the writer of Ecclesiastes has stated, “to every thing, there is a season,” and that includes a time to laugh. There is room for smiling and laughter in God’s family, as one former Christian radio personality used to say. “Jesus loves you! Tell your face about it! Pray: Father there is a time for laughter and a time for being somber! Help us to always know the difference! Help us to not take ourselves too seriously!