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LOL




According to Wikipedia, LOL is an abbreviation for laughing out loud, or laugh out loud.  It is a common element of Internet slang.  It was used historically on Usenet but is now widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communications.

According to Reader’s Digest, Laughter is the Best Medicine.

According to Genesis 17, Abraham laughed and according to Genesis 18, Sarah laughed.  The problem was that their laughter was heard by one very important person.  And it turned out that their laughter wasn’t even close to being the best medicine!  Why?  They laughed at God.

It’s easy to be harsh on them but stop and think about it.  Sarah had been barren all her child bearing years.  Now she was being told that she would conceive and have a son.  Furthermore, as the passage notes, she was already old and well advanced in years and was past the age of child bearing.  To add further insult to injury, the father of her baby would be her husband, Abraham, also noted as being already old and well advanced in years.  Both, as we might say, were way over the hill!  

The accounts gets worse.  Abraham thought that God was really talking about his other son.  The other son had a different mother.  But God set the record straight.  It would be the son born to Sarah.

Perhaps even worse, Sarah, when confronted by God about the fact that she laughed at Him and His Word, was afraid and gave the classic human response…she lied and denied that she had laughed.

But a few chapters later in Genesis, we find the real best medicine for both Abraham and Sarah.  It was a huge dose of grace:  “Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.  Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. (Gen 21:1-2)

LOL, when used as understood, can enhance electronic communication.  Laughter is also a pretty good medicine, unless, of course, we are laughing at God!


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