Title: God Who Makes You Smile
Contents
Genesis 21:1-7
God who makes you laugh
The longest-running TV drama in Korea is ‘The Country Diary’. In the village of Yangchon-ri, where neither the map nor the address can be found, Chairman Kim, Il-yong, and simple villagers live in a nest. The family members of these family diaries were not actors to the people, but families themselves. As a symbol of a warm hometown, the country diary, which conveyed deep nostalgia and emotion, was like a zelkova tree in the hometown... It was a drama that smelled like a person who trusted us for such a long time. The first episode aired on October 21, 1980 and ended on December 29, 2002, with 1,088 episodes aired for 22 years and 3 months. Among the many cast members, Choi Bul-am as Kim Ho-jang, Kim Hye-ja as Kim Ho-jang's wife, Go Doo-shim as daughter-in-law, and Yoo In-chon, the current Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism as the second son, are memorable. If I had to pick one entertainer who shined the most in this ‘Rural Diary’, it was definitely Choi Bul-am, who played the role of Kim Hoe-jang. But do you know what Bul-Am Choi's favorite vegetable is? It is ‘pa ~ ~ ~’.
In laughter therapy, this laughter of Bul-am Choi is called a million-dollar laughter. There are many different types of laughter. Laughing once and ending up with a smile (一笑), smiling roundly is a smile (微笑), smiling with open mouths (大笑), laughing with wide open mouths is hongso (哄笑), and suddenly bursting out of laughter is laughter (爆笑). , laughing with a smile (目笑), laughing loudly and laughing out loud (呵呵大笑), smiling broadly with a very pleasant expression is a big smile (破顔大笑), and the laughter that bursts out of nowhere without knowing it is ridiculous Laughing (失笑), talking with a smile is chatting (談笑). A laugh like this is a pleasant laugh. However, there is not only such pleasant laughter, but also laughter that makes others laugh. Laughter that ridicules others is sarcasm or ridicule, scornful laughter is scornful, cold laughter is cynicism, bitter laughter is accusation, and arrogant laughter is gyozo (嬌笑). ), false laughter that is not even in the heart is called gaso (假笑).
There are various Korean words for expressing a smile. Words and onomatopoeias related to laughter, such as giddy, squeaky, squeaky, squeaky, squeaky, bangulbang, single single, binggree, singgree, quill kill, curl curl, keuk, etc. are abundant, but laughter is really lacking in our society. This is an article I saw in an advertisement for corporate image on TV. “If you live 80 years, you sleep for 26 years, work for 21 years, eat and drink for 9 years, but only laugh for 20 years.” Who doesn't want to live with a smile? Everyone wants to start their day with a smile and end their day with a smile.
Wasn't it said that laughter brings good fortune? Laughing brings happiness. Laughing makes you healthy. If you smile for just 15 seconds a day, you can extend your life by two days, and if you laugh for just 45 seconds a day, you can overcome stress. Stanford University School of Medicine has published an experimental report on the health effects of laughter. When a healthy adult male was shown a video of bursting laughter for an hour and then changed in the body, it was found that interferol gamma hormone, a substance that suppresses cancer, increased 200 times more than usual.
In America, there is a man named Norman Kousin, who is called the father of laughter. He was already successful in his thirties and rose to the position of editor-in-chief of a world-class magazine. But one day, he fell ill with an incurable disease and was sentenced to live for only one month. When the pain didn't go away even after taking a large amount of painkillers, he got all of Charlie Chaplin's films and sat in his hotel room, laughing and laughing day and night at them. During this time, he recovered from his illness and lived to the age of 74. Proverbs says, “A joy of the heart is good medicine, but a troubled spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).
God makes us laugh. In the text, we can meet God who makes us laugh.
1. God made Abraham laugh.
Let's read Genesis 17:17 together. “Abraham fell on his face and laughed, saying in his heart, How can a hundred years old have children? How can Sarah be ninety years old?” Amen.
When Abram was living in Ur of the Chaldeans, God visited Abraham and told him to leave his hometown. The first is the promise to make a great nation, the second is the promise to make your name great, and the third is the promise to make you a source of blessings. Abraham believed God's promise and left his hometown and went to the land of Canaan. They settled in the land of Canaan for a long time, but they did not have the promised children. One day, God appeared in a vision, and Abram asked God. “God, I have no children. The only child who will inherit my property is Eliezer the Damascusite. I will make him my heir.” Then God said, “This man is not your heir. He who comes from your own body will be your heir.” He took Abram out of the house and showed him the stars in the night sky, saying, “Your offspring will be as numerous as those stars.”
So I patiently waited. However, ten years have passed since God believed the promise and left Ur of the Chaldeans, and none of God's promises were fulfilled. The most frustrating thing is that Abram was already 85 years old, and Sarai was 75 years old. It can be frustrating because there is no son to pass on to the generation at the age of 85, let alone a great nation or a great name.
It is not easy for us to truly believe in the Word of God and live our life of faith. Of course, as long as everything goes well and things go according to plan, where are the saints who cannot live according to their faith? But is it a problem because things in the world don't go the way we want them to? In particular, because Satan's mission is to torment God's children, he finds and attacks our weaknesses. Satan tempts us, leads us to neglect worship, to complain, to doubt God's love, to turn away from God, and finally to deny God. At this point, instead of living by faith, we are living with the world's methods and tricks.
Abram's wife, Sarai, also became suspicious of God's promises and resorted to tricks. She gave her servant Hagar, whom the king of Egypt had given her, as a concubine to her husband, so that she might have children. In the upper classes of the ancient society, it was customary for a wife to give her maidservant to her husband so that he could look after the heir if there were no children between the couple. And in this case, the child born became the wife's child, not the slave's child. Therefore, Sarai's trick was a natural act following the customs of life at the time. As expected, Sarah's trick worked, and Hagar gave birth to a son the following year. But when Ishmael was 14 years old, God appeared to Abram and told him to change his name to ‘Abraham’. ‘Abraham’ means father of a multitude. And he said to change your wife's name to 'Sarah,' and said, "I will bless your wife and give you a son. I will bless your wife and make her the mother of many nations, and I will make kings over the people come out of her.”
When God spoke these words to Abraham, Abraham was 99 years old and his wife Sarah was 89 years old. So Abraham, who heard God's promise to give birth to a son, fell face down on the ground and laughed and said to himself. “A man who is a hundred years old gives birth to a son? Sarah is ninety years old, how can she have children?” So, “God! I hope that my son will stop and live with the blessings that Ishmael and God give him.” Eliezer gave up because he couldn't become a successor. But now I can't help but laugh when he says no to Ishmael, the son he got from his concubine, and that his 89-year-old wife will give birth to a son next year.
However, the following year, when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old, God's promise became a reality and he embraced his son. Finally, God made Abraham laugh. Even Eliezer couldn't make Abraham laugh. Neither Sarah nor Hagar nor Ishmalel made Abraham laugh. Only God made Abraham laugh.
2. The God who made Abraham laugh also made Sarah laugh.
Let's read verses 6-7 together. “Sarah said, “God makes me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And he said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse her children? But in the old age of Abraham I bore a son.” Amen.
In ancient times, it was a shame for women to be barren. Even if the cause of infertility was due to the lack of medical technology, the responsibility for childlessness was placed on the woman. In ancient times, there is a book called 'Daedaeryegi' that records the rituals, and the law called Chilgeoak is recorded here. This system is a product of the feudal family system that placed the significance of marriage on the preservation of the tribe and the prosperity of the family. If you still have such a bad husband, you will have to be beaten hard and beaten for three more generations.
In the ancient society, women were only considered as a tool to preserve the race. So Sarah also tried to get her husband's successor through her servant Hagar. But he fell for the trick he had come up with. When Hagar conceived a child of Abraham, her attitude changed and she despised her mistress Sarah. He tried tricks to avoid shame, but instead of avoiding shame, he was ignored by the servant. Not only was she ignored, but her relationship with her husband also became discord. If you do it in a human way, it will work, but it will be ignored and eventually ruined. We must walk the path of faith, even if we suffer losses.
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you will become believers who obey God's will, even if they do not agree with my thoughts. Even if my plans go against you, please do not go unless it is the path of faith. It is better to suffer for a while than to perish forever. In Isaiah 54:7-8, God said, “I have forsaken you for a while, but with great compassion I will gather you; with my overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a little while, but I will have mercy on you with everlasting mercy.” The apostle Paul also said “?/td>