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I’ve read the Bible through many times.

But I’m nowhere close to having read it enough.

For if I were, I wouldn’t have deficits in my recollection of a vital moment in Abraham’s life such as the one I saw today.

For decades, I’ve known that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, had laughed with skepticism toward the divine Genesis 18 promise that she and Abraham were going to have a biological son.

I’ve taught that we fail in faith when we are skeptical of God’s promises and that God sees our weakened-faith laughter.

I’ve taught that we shouldn’t be like Sarah in that moment she doubted God.

And actually, that lesson is true and timeless — we shouldn’t doubt God.

But in reading from One-Year Bible this morning in Genesis 17:17-18, I was reminded that Sarah wasn’t the only one who laughed in disbelief of God’s promise.

Abraham laughed, too.

Hmmmm……..

“Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. ‘How could I become a father at the age of 100?’ he thought. ‘And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?’ So Abraham said to God, ‘May Ishmael live under your special blessing!’”

Abraham didn’t simply let a giggle slip between his lips. He made the conscious decision that God couldn’t keep His promise and that the 13-year-old son he had fathered by a slave girl named Hagar was going to be the heir to all of Abraham’s wealth and influence in Palestine.

Oh my.

Abraham really dropped the ball here in terms of faith.

Yes, God was promising a miracle birth that was against the laws of human reproductive timelines. But God was still God and Abraham should have remembered that.

Really, his failure was greater than Sarah’s.

And my failure is that I should have paid more attention to this sequence over the years.

This is an example of why we need to read the Bible over and over and over.

We’re thick in the head and sometimes we just don’t pick up on things as quickly as we should.

Please, my friend, join me in reading through the Bible.

There’s much to learn about those in the scriptures.

And about ourselves.

As always, I love you
Martiin

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