There is something about worship music that completely overtakes me. As I lift my head and heart in praise and as I worship God with the congregation, I am always overcome with intense emotion. There are certain hymns like the, “Old Rugged Cross” that I feel deep in my soul as it simmers up. I become filled with the words of praise and I weep. Every. Single. Time.
I remember noticing this when I was about five or six years old at home. My mom would always begin and end the night with praise through song and I would always bawl my eyes out. As a youth you see I was occupied with grief or fear of the unknow dark, I felt like an anomaly; I felt strange. I would question my emotions. I would be thinking, Why am I crying? No one else is crying. I would try to distract myself during her singing music so I would not cry. I would try to block out the words of the song during my fear of grief so I would not be overcome with emotion. I was self-conscious and I doubted myself.
Sometimes, we cry because life’s sorrows have become chronic, filling our life like unwelcome houseguests who just won’t leave. Other times, we cry because some unexpected grief lands like a falling star and notches a nook in our soul. And still other times, we shed tears and don’t know quite why; the grief evades description and analysis.
Our weeping may tarry for a long, long night. As long as we journey through this current valley during this covid-19 virus, we will be vulnerable to the assaults of loss and disappointment and death. But joy will come in the morning, when God turns our valley of tears into a city of everlasting joy.
While in the custody of his enemies, David wrote, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle” (Psalm 56:8). David was going through a difficult time. He begins this sad psalm with the words “Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me” (Psalm 56:1). The Philistines had captured David in Gath—David was, at the time he wrote this psalm, a prisoner of war, and he had reason to cry and be sorrowful. David says that his struggles are recorded in God’s book (verse 8), and he asks God to put his tears in His bottle. What does this poetic language mean? Does God really have a bottle where all our tears go? Are the events of our lives really written in a book?
The idea behind the keeping of “tears in a bottle” is remembrance. David is expressing a deep trust in God—God will remember his sorrow and tears and will not forget about him. David is confident that God is on his side. He says, in the midst of this troubling time, “This I know, God is for me”(Psalm 56:9) and “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” God may not have an actual bottle where our tears are kept or a literal book where sorrows are recorded, but He nonetheless remembers all the things that happen in our lives, including the suffering endured for His sake.
The idea behind the keeping of “tears in a bottle” is remembrance. David is expressing a deep trust in God—God will remember his sorrow and tears and will not forget about him. David is confident that God is on his side. He says, in the midst of this troubling time, “This I know, God is for me”(Psalm 56:9) and “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” God may not have an actual bottle where our tears are kept or a literal book where sorrows are recorded, but He nonetheless remembers all the things that happen in our lives, including the suffering endured for His sake.
Our tears are not futile during these times. God knows each of His children intimately, and every tear we shed has meaning to Him. He remembers our sorrow as if He kept each tear in a bottle. In the end, He will share His joy with us when “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4) We will face trials and temptations in life (john 16:33; James 1:2-4). Our faith will be challenged. But it is not only in the difficult times that we dig in our heels and fight for our faith. No, we contend for our faith always. What we do today prepares us for what is in store tomorrow. God is always at work in our lives. Our faith should be ever-growing. Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. My brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling. Election as you tear. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich emotional welcoming cry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We keep the faith by remembering God’s faithfulness and continuing to grow in relationship with Him
God Bless You and This Ministry!
