Finish this phrase for me, “if you want to make God laugh…” (tell Him your plans). The way some of you said that makes me feel like you yourselves have made the good Lord giggle on more than one occasion. So, I suspect at least some of you know from personal experience what this phrase means. I know I do. The phrase is used to describe a situation in which a person goes to great lengths to plan things out the way they think they should be, only to discover that God had a completely different plan that was a far better plan than the plan the person had come up with. The phrase is meant to remind us that our all-knowing all-powerful God is far better at making plans for our lives than we are.
Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord tells us, “8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.””[1] But somehow that doesn’t stop us from fussing and fretting about all the plans we need to make. We seem determined to make God laugh.
Today in our lesson from Genesis 15:1-6 Abram seems determined to make God laugh. About 300 years after the floodwaters receded from the earth the Lord said to Abram, “1… Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”[2] The Lord promised to give Abram land to live on and a family to fill it. However, when the Lord made those promises to Abram the land the Lord promised to give him was filled with Canaanites and the family the Lord promised he would have had become a biological impossibility for Abram and his wife Sarai who were now in their 80s and 70s respectively.
As time went on, it was not the lack of land that weighed heavy on Abram’s heart, it was the lack of a child. No doubt Abram wanted children for many of the same reason other people want children, but Abram also wanted children because through them God had promised to bless all peoples. I am not sure Abram knew the degree to which God would bless all people through Abram’s family, but you know. Abram was to be the father of the nation of Israel. From this nation would come the savior of the world.
Abram may not have understood the degree to which God would bless all people through his family, but he did know that in order for the blessing to be given he would need a family and since he and his wife Sarai were too old to do any family planning of their own, Abram decided to get creative. “2 Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”” I don’t think Abram intended to sound so snotty when he presented his plan to the LORD, but you sense a bit of an accusatory tone, don’t you. Abram almost seems to imply that the LORD screwed up and forgot to give Abram a son thereby leaving Abram with no choice but to come up with his own plan to rectify the situation.
You ever feel like the LORD has done the same thing to you? In our gospel lesson for today the LORD makes some promises to you. He says, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.”[3] He says, ‘don’t worry, I will provide for you.’ But sometimes it isn’t clear how the LORD is going to keep that promise. Sometimes, when inflation rates are rising and retirement portfolios are crashing it appears to us that things have not exactly gone according to plan, perhaps a mistake or oversight has occurred, and we feel we have no choice but to come up with our own plan to rectify the situation. “O Sovereign LORD”, we snottily sigh, “listen to my plan.”
As you tell the LORD your plans you might have noticed there is an unsettling lack of laughter coming from your God. Turns out you telling your God that He screwed up and you pretending that your thoughts are higher than His thoughts and your ways are higher than His ways; that you plan is better than His plan, is no laughing matter. Doubting God’s ability and or desire to keep the promises He makes to you is not just snotty its sinful. If you want to make God laugh, then the last thing I suggest you do is tell Him your plans.
When you think about the accusation that is being made and the arrogance that is demonstrated by those who think their plans are better than the LORD’s plans you might expect fire and brimstone to rain down from heaven. But listen to how the LORD responded to Abram’s plan. “4 Then the word of the LORD came to him (Abram): “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.”” The LORD did not laugh at Abram’s arrogance, but He also did not scream at him. The LORD patiently listened to His frustrated child. The LORD mercifully endured the unintentional insults of His ignorant child. The LORD graciously spoke to His erring child with kindness as He rebuked his sin. When we in our arrogance tell the LORD our plans, He doesn’t laugh at us, but remarkably, inexplicably, astonishingly He doesn’t scream at us either. The LORD responds to our plans the same way He responded to Abram’s plans. The LORD patiently listens, mercifully endures, and graciously speaks to us.
After He patiently, mercifully, and graciously rebuked Abram the LORD took the time to reassure Abram. The LORD took Abram outside and said, “5… Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” To reassure Abram that He is fully capable of keeping His promises the LORD does a little flexing of His muscles for Abram. He invites Abram to look up at the stars in the sky and consider what great things the LORD has already done. The LORD invites Abram to consider that the same God who brought forth the stars from darkness is fully capable of bringing forth a child from the dried-up womb of Abram’s wife.
After He patiently, mercifully, and graciously rebukes us, the LORD also takes the time to reassure us. We can still step outside and look up into the night sky to see the stars shinning, but we have an even greater reassurance than Abram had. Instead of looking at the stars in the sky we can look to the Son on the cross. There we see our sin forgiven, Satan defeated, and death overcome. There see what great things the LORD has already done for us. We can look up at the Son on the cross and be reassured that, even though inflation rates are rising, and retirement portfolios are crashing, the same God who forgave sin, defeated the devil, and overcame death can and will keep His promise to provide for all our needs.
Having been reassured that the LORD had a plan to keep His promise we are told, “6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Abram “believed”. The Hebrew word for “believe” is a word that you know. It is a word that expresses complete agreement, total surrender, and absolute confidence in the one speaking. The word is “Amen” (אָמֵן). Abram listened to LORD’s plan, and he did not question how his post-menopausal wife was going to conceive and give birth to a son, Abram listened to LORD’s plan and simply said, “Amen”.
You know the word “amen”. You say it at the end of every prayer to express your complete agreement, total surrender, and absolute confidence. Why not let the word “amen” also define your relationship with the LORD? You have been repeatedly reassured of the great things He has done for you through His Son who hung on the cross. Why not listen to the LORD’s plan to provide for you and simply say “amen”?
Abram believed the LORD’s promise and through that belief the LORD credited or gave to or declared Abram to be righteous. It is through our faith in the promises that the LORD has made to us that we too are credited with, given, declared to be righteous. Therefore, If you really want to make God laugh, the last thing you will want to do is tell him your plans. I am not sure it will make Him laugh but your faith in His promises will at least put a smile on His face. Therefore, let us listen to the plans He has made for us both now and in eternity and simply say “Amen”. Amen.
[1] Isaiah 55:8-9
[2] Genesis 12:1-3
[3] Luke 12:22