“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” — Psalm 56:8
This verse encouraged me the other morning. Christians, meditate on what this verse is actually saying. It describes the incredible level of personalized, tender care that God has for us.
Remember back to that night, the one where you were tossing in bed unable to sleep. Remember? Or, maybe something woke you up in the middle of the night and you started thinking about that burden in your heart. God saw all of that!
This verse then states that God stores our tears in a bottle. One commentator said that an ancient custom of mourning was to collect tears in a bottle and put it in the tomb of the deceased. “Collecting tears” actually happened. God keeps record of your tears. When you are sad, grieving or emotional, God sees it. God counts your tears. Can you imagine God holding a bottle up to your cheek as your cry? He is that close to the broken-hearted!
We have an incredibly tender, personal God. Jesus taught us something similar (in the gospels), when He said God knows the number of hairs on your head.
Believer, do you turn to this incredibly tender, personal God? Do you pray to Him? When you can’t sleep and you are tossing in your bed, do you start praying? When you are crying, do you remember, “Oh yeah, God sees this!” God is near to the broken-hearted. Draw near to Him when grieving the loss of a loved one, or working through the hurt from a friend, or dealing with a discouraging trial.
What encouragement there is in this verse. God hears the concerns of His children. He is with us and for us.
Meditating on His love,
Josh
Posted in A Word from the Pastor