As I think about the verse the Lord has laid on my heart for our weekly When Words Won’t Come, my heart aches for those who are going through difficult times.
A high school friend whose husband is on hospice and walking his final days on this earth.
A friend whose adult children have strayed away from the Lord.
Another friend whose unsaved father has been diagnosed with a rapidly growing type of cancer.
A family in our church whose teenage son was involved in an automobile accident.
Hurt, pain, tragedy and death.
Join me in Psalms for a little something that I hope will bring comfort to hurting hearts.
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8 (NLT)
In this verse, I see God entering into our sorrows, hurts and pain. He keeps track of the things that make us weep and records them in a book. He reaches down, just like a loving parent, and wipes away our tears with His gentle Father-hand, tenderly placing each tear in a bottle.
Why in the world would God collect our tears and place them in a bottle? One thought comes to me. The Bible promises that those who sow in tears will reap in joy. Perhaps for each of those tears stored in a heavenly bottle, God will turn those tears to joy and pour out of that bottle a heaping helping of joy when we reach heaven.
This verse speaks so tenderly to my heart. Our Father, our Daddy, our Abba, pays attention to us. He is not a far-off and distant God, but one who is close enough to gather our tears and place them in a bottle.
So, the next time you weep, know that God is storing your tears up in heaven.
Meditation Moment: What does the fact that God takes such intimate notice of our lives speak to your heart? Share your thoughts on this verse today.
