Chaos is not all good nor it is it all bad. It simply is. And in the midst of the chaos, we are called to listen for God’s voice, listen for God’s word and know in all things, as people of faith, we are called to watch, to look, to trust and to know that the Lord will do wonderful things among us.
August 2 2026
Finding God in the Chaos: Listening to the Still, Small Voice
“In the midst of grief, there is laughter”
Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “Yes, you did laugh.
”The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
In the midst of grief, there is laughter Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7
How can this be? This is the question Sarah asks in response to the news that she will have a child after she has grown old. This is the question Abraham asks just a few chapters before this one when he was told that he would have a child at the ripe old age of 100. This same question Mary asks the angel Gabrielle when she is told she will have a son as a virgin. This is the same question that people of faith have asked since the beginning of time when we receive news which doesn’t make sense, which is not logical. We utter this question in response to a deep, deep knowing in our hearts, in our beings that everything is not always adhering to what God promised, what God created and called good.
For me this question of “How can this be”, whether this question is given in response to news of great joy, or news of great sorrow, this question of “How can this be” is the most faithful question we can ask of God, ask to our God. Because it reminds us that faith is never logical. It is never meant to fit, to become part of the world’s larger narrative where power and might are in charge and only a few are noticed and appreciated. For me, this question of “How can it be” reminds us that in a world where 2 plus 2 always equals four, that there are more possibilities than we could ever imagine or anticipate., to remind us that 20 divided by 4 plus 10 minus 11 also equals 4. It is the same answer, just a different and unexpected journey to get there.
For me this question of ‘How can it be?’ reminds me, reminds us that God is there, moving among us, bringing forth new life, adhering to God’s promise to us even if we cannot see the plan or know the process.
And that is where we find Abraham and Sarah. They have been given a promise, but they cannot seem to see the plan or know the process. And they are frustrated. They are disappointed. They are grieving. And they have given up. And in the midst of their grief comes laughter. Sure, it is their own laughter at such ridiculous news…a baby at the age of 100, a baby when things have stopped working literally and physically, a baby when it doesn’t make sense or isn’t logical. Yet, that is where God meets them. That is where God finds them. That is where God speaks to them. Not in their hopefulness. No, God meets them in their hopelessness. God meets in the mess, in the chaos. God meets them when they stopped trying to control the process, when they stopped trying to hurry the situation along to completion, when they stopped letting the need for everything to be settled NOW so overtake their being that they have blinders on to everything else. In the midst of their grief, God brought laughter and invited everyone to laugh with them at this illogical, ridiculous, life giving, life transforming news that God remembered them, that God saw them, that God brought them an answer to their question in an unexpected and different journey to get there.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers, nor will I say I have it all figured out. Because I’m a Type A person. I need order. I need lists. I tend to think 20 twenty steps ahead and be prepared for every possible situation. And what I can tell you is that while this is my superpower, it is also my downfall because it is exhausting. It is draining. It usually has me on high alert in every situation and it is not what God intended when God called me by name and claimed me as God’s Beloved. I’m still learning because it is easy to fall into patterns and habits when life gets messy. But what I can tell you is that embrace of this good news where God meets us, where God finds us in the chaos, requires a shattering of the walls we build, a disrupting of the false security we cling to so that we have open hearts, open minds, open eyes, open hands to receive the promise which tells us time and time again, that everything will come together, that loss will be made good, that blindness will transform into vision, that damage will be made whole, that in the midst grief, there will be laughter because we know love and light will always have the last word. May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, August 2, 2026 – In the midst of grief, there is laughter Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7.
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