If you think of all the tears you have ever cried, would they amount to much? All the tears as a baby, crying to let your mother know you were hungry, dirty, lonely or scared. Next, to tears you cried as a teen-ager because friends were mean or a first love didn’t go as expected. And then as an adult, tears from grief, death, sickness, divorce, or any wrong-doing in your life. Life is hard. We face difficulties of all kinds and tears come and fill our eyes.
In Psalm 56, David writes of a time he had been captured by an enemy. He was fearful, not knowing what the Philistines might do to him. Instead of focusing on the horrible situation he was in, he changed his focus. He was reminded of how carefully God watched over him.
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Psalm 56:3&4
David tells us that God is concerned enough about us and what we face and that He keeps every tear that falls from our eyes in a bottle.
You have kept count of my tossing; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
Psalm 56:8
Can you actually picture this for yourself? God, right at this moment, sitting in Heaven with a bottle that has every single tear you have ever cried? That is a little over-whelming to me. To think that He cares that much about me means that each tear really matters to Him.
Today, you can actually find delicate, ancient vials called lachrymatory bottles (examples pictured above) for sale. There was a custom as far back as David’s day that when a person was ill or in great distress, his friends would take him a tear bottle. As the tears rolled down the cheeks of the person suffering, they were caught in these bottles, sealed up and preserved as a memorial of the person’s pain.
This is what God does for us. He has bottled all of our tears and assures us that He see us and remembers every single tear shed. God charts our steps and records our tears to show us just how closely He notices and cares for us. We, like David can take comfort in knowing that we can trust in God and that He sees us.