God Sees My Tears

May 7

Judges 10-11

Psalm 56:8-13

Proverbs 13:3-4

Luke 22:24-46

God Sees My Tears

“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?  Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call.  This I know, that God is for me.  In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me?”  Psalm 56:8-11. ESV

In ancient times, there was a practice of relatives collecting the tears they shed in a lachrymatory, a small glass bottle, to express their sorrow for a deceased loved one and then burying the bottles in the tomb with them. David was referring to these bottles when he wrote this psalm.  He was confident that God saw all the tears he shed and would not forget his pain.  The sorrow and hurt David was experiencing when he wrote this wasn’t from the death of a loved one.  He was running from Saul who was trying to kill him.  He fled to Gath where he was then captured by the Philistines.  David was hurt by Saul’s betrayal and he felt helpless and alone in the enemy’s hands.  This is recorded in I Samuel 21:10-22:5.  Instead of giving up, he chose to turn to God in faith.  He felt alone and forgotten, but he reminded himself of God’s faithfulness and love.  He was confident that God saw every tear he shed and was storing them in a bottle and recording them in His book.  David knew that God was concerned about everything that causes us pain and sorrow, not just the death of a loved one.  He proclaimed that God was for him and because he trusted God, he would not be afraid.  He praised God in the midst of his suffering.  Fear would have been a natural response because he was in imminent danger both from the Philistines and from Saul, but he boldly proclaimed that he would not be afraid. He reminded himself of the times God had protected him and rescued him from danger and reassured himself by asking, “What can man do to me?”  David chose to trust God when he could have wallowed in self-pity and cowered in fear and hopelessness.

God sees every tear we shed.Nothing escapes His attention. He knows every time we are hurting and experiencing sadness. In the stillness of night, when we are all alone in our sorrow and grief, He sees our pain and remembers because He loves us deeply. Whether we are grieving the loss of someone dear, have been hurt by the careless words or actions of others, are experiencing the regret of our own poor choices, are disappointed because things have not turned out like we hoped they would, or are dealing with any other pain or sorrow this fallen world places at our feet, we, like David, need to choose to turn to our heavenly Father who loves us. He is the only One who can provide comfort, peace and hope in our darkest moments. When we feel alone and forgotten, we have to remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness and love. We need to remember the times in the past when God has taken care of us and has delivered us from difficult circumstances. Instead of giving up or wallowing in our pain and sorrow, we have to choose to praise Him and trust that He will be faithful and see us through to the other side. We do not have to be afraid. We are not hopeless because He loves us and He will never