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Psalm 56:8 - God Collects All Our Tears.

Psalm 56:8 (NLT) You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

INTRODUCTION

Even in our deepest sorrow, God cares! Jesus reminded us further of how much God understands us - even the hairs on our head are all numbered (Matthew 10:30). Often we waver between faith and fear. When you feel so discouraged that you are sure no one understands, remember that God knows every problem and sees every tear. [Life Application SB]

COMMENTARY PEARL

Every Tear
   Not all tears are the same. We have basal tears (to lubricate the eye), reflex tears (to wash out an irritant), and painful tears (to alleviate a broken bone or a broken heart). The tears that come from emotional pain are not all the same. Some are from empathic feelings (grieving with someone), stressful situations (too many things hitting you at once), or relationship difficulties (like a breakup).
   Have you ever guessed wrong about why someone might be crying? Some people have greater intuition than others in sensing the heart of a person weeping. But God never gets confused about the tears we shed. Today's promise shows just how in touch the Lord is with our deepest pains. Psalm 56 describes David's experience of having to leave home because Saul was hunting him down. Was David feeling lonely? Afraid? Confused? Maybe he had a jumble of feelings.
   Whatever his tears meant, David knew that God saw him and cared for him. "When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me" (v. 9). It's a touching description of God's sensitivity toward us, that He notes every tear we shed. Keeping tears in a bottle or noting every drop in a book is a way of saying, "God remembers what I am going through."
   When was the last time you cried? What prompted your tears? Whatever the reason, God sees your tears. He notes your pain and grief. He doesn't overlook your suffering, your broken heart, or your wounded spirit. He cares for you when you cry.
   Dear Lord, when my heart is in pain and my sorrows overwhelm me, I know that You see, You hear, and You care. [The Most Amazing Bible Promises by Amazing Facts]

COMMENTARY

   All heaven beholds with indignation human beings, the workmanship of God, reduced by their fellow men to the lowest depths of degradation and placed on a level with the brute creation. Professed followers of that dear Saviour whose compassion was ever moved at the sight of human woe, heartily engage in this enormous and grievous sin, and deal in slaves and souls of men. Human agony is carried from place to place and bought and sold. Angels have recorded it all; it is written in the book. The tears of the pious bondmen and bondwomen, of fathers, mothers, and children, brothers and sisters, are all bottled up in heaven. God will restrain His anger but little longer. His wrath burns against this nation and especially against the religious bodies that have sanctioned this terrible traffic and have themselves engaged in it. Such injustice, such oppression, such sufferings, are looked upon with heartless indifference by many professed followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. And many of them can themselves inflict, with hateful satisfaction, all this indescribable agony; and yet they dare to worship God. It is solemn mockery; Satan exults over it and reproaches Jesus and His angels with such inconsistency, saying, with hellish triumph, "Such are Christ's followers!"
   These professed Christians read of the sufferings of the martyrs, and tears course down their cheeks. They wonder that men could ever become so hardened as to practice such cruelty toward their fellow men. Yet those who think and speak thus are at the same time holding human beings in slavery. And this is not all; they sever the ties of nature and cruelly oppress their fellow men. They can inflict most inhuman torture with the same relentless cruelty manifested by papists and heathen toward Christ's followers. Said the angel, "It will be more tolerable for the heathen and for papists in the day of the execution of God's judgment than for such men." The cries of the oppressed have reached unto heaven, and angels stand amazed at the untold, agonizing sufferings which man, formed in the image of his Maker, causes his fellow man. Said the angel, "The names of the oppressors are written in blood, crossed with stripes, and flooded with agonizing, burning tears of suffering. God's anger will not cease until He has caused this land of light to drink the dregs of the cup of His fury, until He has rewarded unto Babylon double. Reward her even as she rewarded you, double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double." EW275-276

   "A book of remembrance" is written before God, in which are recorded the good deeds of "them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name." Malachi 3:16. Their words of faith, their acts of love, are registered in heaven. Nehemiah refers to this when he says: "Remember me, O my God, ... and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God." Nehemiah 13:14. In the book of God's remembrance every deed of righteousness is immortalized. There every temptation resisted, every evil overcome, every word of tender pity expressed, is faithfully chronicled. And every act of sacrifice, every suffering and sorrow endured for Christ's sake, is recorded. Says the psalmist: "Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?" Psalm 56:8.
   There is a record also of the sins of men. "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Says the Saviour: "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36, 37. The secret purposes and motives appear in the unerring register; for God "will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Corinthians 4:5. "Behold, it is written before Me, ... your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord." Isaiah 65:6, 7. GC481

CLOSING THOUGHT

   "Don't shake that bottle, Jeanette. It will make tons of bubbles, and we'll get a glass full of those instead of the grape juice."
   I blinked in confusion at my husband, Kevin, who's rarely bossy. Especially this early in the morning. "But that's what Daddy always did when we had grape juice. My brother and I would argue over the glass with the most bubbles."
   I had less than a dozen distinct memories of my father, who left when I was six and died when I was ten. Grape juice bubbles was one of the happiest.
   "Aha," he said, as an understanding smile lightened Kevin's face.
   Jesus sees every wound of my soul, even the broken places I've hidden from myself. He understands why I need that silly reminder of Daddy and the purple bubbles. Jesus sees the tears that slip down my cheeks in secret for all the disappointments and lost opportunities. Better yet, He fills every hole in my heart with His love and compassion.
   When I was young, I often asked Jesus why I was fatherless. Now that I'm not so young, I realize He's given me the best Father ever. My heavenly Father, who will never leave me.
   My bottle of tears maybe huge. But Jesus's fondness for me is immeasurable. Jeannette Levellie
   Faith Step: If you have a hole of disappointment or pain in your heart, ask Jesus to fill it up with the love and kindness that only He can supply. [Mornings With Jesus 2024 Devotional by Guideposts and Zondervan]

LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY

John 11:35 - JESUS WEPT.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2019/20190610-1012.html

Revelation 21:4 - A Vision of Heaven.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20211027-1041.html

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT

https://abible.com/links/