by Disclaimer- The photo above is mine from my Shutterstock account, I just couldn’t find the original in my computer.
Now onto the Bible thought:
With God there is no mistakes. I was suppose to read Ps 57 this morning for my devotional but instead read Ps 56. I got hung up on this verse: 56:8 “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” My few thoughts:
1. God has a book that has my tears recorded. So, if he records every time I cry, does he record why I cry? Probably. Then I got to thinking, “How many times have I cried over things that are Godly? For example: crying for lost souls, crying for sin stricken people, crying for prayers of my friends, crying over my sin issues, etc. Or are most of my crying instances selfish because I haven’t gotten my way about something?” It just makes one wonder what exactly is recorded in the book God has where he is recording our tears. Maybe he is recording our wanderings mentioned at the beginning of the verse. I don’t think so; I think he is recording our tears.
2. God has a bottle “thy bottle” and the author is saying to put his tears into God’s bottle. Why? I don’t think that can be answered but what can be answered is that God has a bottle with tears. Are they His? I think so. If so, God has a bottle with His tears which I’m sure are shed over this sin stricken world. But what if His tears are shed because of me? Why would the author want his tears in God’s bottle? Oh.. to have our tears mingled with God’s. I do think that would mean we are crying over the same things God would cry over.
Prior to this verse, the author talks a lot about his enemies. v2 “Mine enemies would daily swallow me up…” v4 “I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” v5 “…all their thoughts are against me for evil.” v6 “…they wait for my soul.”
Then, by v8, the author is talking about crying. Have you ever been there? So broken by this world, by Satan’s attacks, so lost as to what to do? I have. I believe v8 is actually an encouragement to literally cry out our heart and soul unto the Lord and to know he is there and he is cherishing every tear so much that he is recording our crying and storing our tears.
I do believe God cares about us and even our selfish desires. Sometimes we may think our desires aren’t important, but they are to God. There is too much Bible to let us know He cares. Like I Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
But we know God also cries over death. He cried when Lazarus died. John 11:35 “Jesus wept.”
We also know God does want us to cry over lost souls and over our witnessing efforts. Ps. 126:6 “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed…”
When we get to heaven, what will be in our book of crying recordings? Will we have tears in God’s bottle mingled with His tears? What tears go into that bottle?
Anyway, if nothing else: God wants us to cry. He wants to hear our every request whether we think it is selfish or not. He wants us to cry unto Him. Never hesitate to cry unto your Lord. He cares for you.
