As a young girl I used to dislike sitting through church services. The sermons were always 45 minutes long, which seemed interminable. But Linnea and I talked recently about the “fun” of listening to sermons now, sometimes going online to hear one after another much like someone viewing a year’s worth of a favorite TV series in one weekend.

Those childhood sermons were wasted on me because I hadn’t figured out how interesting the Bible could be. For example, yesterday’s sermon at my Michigan church was based on Genesis 18, the story of an elderly Abraham and Sarah receiving baby news from 3 angels. I’ve heard the story many times but know that each time I come to it, God can reveal something new. This time through, he showed me a whole bunch of new things:

1.   When the 3 angelic guests arrived, Abraham told Sarah to quickly make cakes using 3 seahs of flour. According to the notes, that’s 36 pounds! She had to do some major mixing and kneading, not to mention baking. Meanwhile, the 3 very honored guests had to wait quite a while for this “quick” lunch, including the time it took to kill, quarter, and roast a calf. It says: Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” (Genesis 18:6)

2.   It’s also interesting the Lord didn’t say, “In 9 months you’ll have the baby.” He said, “A year from now.” He made them wait, no doubt testing their faith. It says: “The Lord said… about this time next year, Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:14)

3.   One of the angel-messengers (who was thought to actually be the Lord himself, looking like an angel) said, “I’ll be coming back to you in a year, when the baby is born.” Later he repeated it for emphasis: “I’ll be back here in a year.” If that really was the Lord, what a spectacular promise! When the baby finally came, he wanted to be part of the celebration, too! I love that. It says: “I will surely return to you about this time next year.” (Genesis 18:10)

4.   And something else: Sarah usually gets a bad rap for laughing from her hiding spot behind the tent door (laughing about their ages of 89 and 99). “Sarah laughed to herself…” (Genesis 18:12) But this time as I read the story, God showed me that Abraham had laughed, too, for the same reason (in the previous chapter). I’d never noticed that before. It says: “Abraham fell on his face and laughed…” (Genesis 17:17)

5.   And isn’t it delightful that God, who named Isaac himself, chose the name that means “laughter”? It’s as if he was saying, “I totally understand why both of you laughed at this outlandish turn of events. I know it sounds crazy, but isn’t it a happy kind of crazy?” It says: “God said… you shall call his name Isaac.” [laughter] (Genesis 17:19) Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me.” (Genesis 21:6)

I have to laugh, too, with satisfying delight at finding such wonderful detail nestled in the words of God.