Today's Devotional Thought
November 02, 2012 by Rachel Piferi
Bottled Tears
There is a verse in Psalms that I just love. It is Psalm 56:8: You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? And, there is a phrase in this verse that just captures my heart...
Put my tears in your bottle.
I don't know about you, but that phrase does something to me.
So, what does it mean? And why is it so significant?
First, let me give you a little background on Psalm 56. It is written by David at a time when David was taken by the Philistines in Gath. If we look at the entire Psalm, we see that it starts with David pouring out his complaint to God and telling of his many enemies who pursue him (v. 1-2). Then, he declares his utmost confidence in God as the one in whom he puts his trust (v. 3-4). Following this declaration of the sovereignty of God, he continues to pour out his heart to the Lord and calling on the Lord's power to save him (v. 5-7). Then comes my favorite part of the Psalm where David pleads in earnest hope that God hears him, notices him, and will rescue him (v. 5-9). And at the close of the Psalm, he sings of his gratitude to the Lord for his faithful deliverance (v. 10-13).
It is a beautiful Psalm that I believe captures the wave of emotions that we all go through when battling something in life.
I very much doubt that any of us are being pursued by enemies who wish to kill us. But, I imagine that every single one of us is battling (or has battled) something that feels like it will kill us. And, I imagine that in the middle of the angst of the battle, you have declared to God your full acknowledgment of his power and sovereignty and begged for his provision. I imagine you are like me in that you go back and forth between acknowledging God's might and presenting your pain.
I also imagine that you have shed some tears. And you have probably shed more tears privately than you have publically. In fact, when it comes to the real deep battles in life, I imagine that most of the struggle has been private and no one but God has really known it.
And that is where my favorite phrase of this chapter appears...
Put my tears in your bottle.
As I linger on this phrase the very first thing that pops out to me is how very personal it is. They are my tears and they are in His bottle. Notice how it says that my tears are put in your bottle. The bottle belongs to God and he is using it to collect my tears.
Have you ever been with someone who is crying where you can see the tears streaming down their face? Maybe it was your child or maybe it was a friend, but you can see the tears falling on their cheeks. Have you ever wiped them away? Taken your hand and cleared their face?
There is something so personal and so precious about wiping someone's tears off their face. Something so precious about being present in the moment when someone is fully expressing their sadness. In all their vulnerability and all their raw emotion.
Imagine collecting their tears. Saving them. In your bottle.
When I think of God collecting my tears, I feel him very close. I feel him very tenderly caring for each teardrop that falls and the events that are associated with each drop. And I feel how important I am to him. So important that he would collect my tears, in his bottle, as a treasured part of me, shed during a tearful battle.
I may have many people on Earth who love me, but no one loves me like that. No one cares about each and every tear that I shed to the point that they collect them and treasure them.
When I think about the battles that I fight in life and the many tears that I shed, I get such great comfort from knowing that God collects my tears and knows why each one was shed. Even when no one else knows I have even cried, He does. And, He knows exactly why.
And he treasures my tears because he treasures me. And my sadness matters to him.
If you are in a season of shedding tears, please know that we have a mighty God who cares intimately for you. He knows each tear you have shed and he holds them close because of his great love for you. And as David says at the end of this Psalm, we can walk in the light of life being led by a God who loves us so and who continues to deliver us from all of life's battles.
No tear you have ever shed is wasted. It has been collected and treasured by a God who treasures you so. You are so valued that he has a bottle of your tears. I don't know about you, but that overwhelms my heart and brings me such peace in this world. May that also you bring you comfort today as you continue to fight on (and shed tears) in this life.
December