Bottled Tears

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Psalms 56:3-6, Psalms 56:8 (NKJV) Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? All day they twist my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather together, They hide, they mark my steps, When they lie in wait for my life. You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?

What it is speaking to me

Things that cause tears:

The scraped knee.

The nightmare at 2 a.m.

The meltdown over the dropped lego set.

This was me. Last year.

Just kidding. But every parent knows these moments with their young kids. Or if you aren't a parent, you remember these moments from YOUR childhood. If it's your young kids, what you do with those tears? You don’t judge them. You don’t ask if they were justified. You just pick the kid up and soothe them.

David wrote this psalm after the Philistines seized him in Gath. Gath was Goliath’s hometown. Of all the places to run, he ends up in the one town full of people who had every reason to hate him. And he is afraid. He doesn’t even try and hide it.

But amidst the fear he makes a faith statement: “I will trust in thee.” In fact the trust is placed WHENEVER he is afraid. And then he says he will PLACE his trust in God and he will not fear.There is a sense of where trust and fear can cohabitate. But there is another sense where trust replaces fear.

The imagery of verse 8 is remarkable. David asks God to put his tears in a bottle, and then he asks, “are they not in thy book?” He isn’t really asking. He already knows the answer.

Not one tear wasted. Not one forgotten.

The ones you cried in the car.

The ones you wiped away before anyone noticed.

The ones you couldn’t even explain.

God knows and kept every one.

So you don’t have to choose between being honest about your fear and being faithful to your God. Bring both... because He is already holding the bottle.

What is it saying to you?

• What fear are you facing right now?

• Do you believe God has noticed your tears?

What are we going to do about it?

Finish this sentence in prayer: “When I am afraid of ___, I will trust You.”