Focus: God's Bottle For My Tears

Text: Ps.56:8

"Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?"

God has a bottle in which He stores our tears for future action. The psalmist says, "THY bottle," and "MY tears." In God's bottle our tears are stored. It is a bottle of remembrance. He remembers our tears and their causes. Our tears are not some garbage to God. God never sees our tears as something to be wasted or thrown away.

God keeps our tears and knows what to do with them. He uses our tears to process our testimonies. They serve as His raw materials, and with them He manufactures our miracles. He works wonders with our tears. Our tears matter to God. He feels our pain. 

As a lad, God heard the cry of Ishmael. Moses wrote, "And God HEARD the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath HEARD the voice of the lad where he is" (Gen.21:17). Concerning the children of Israel, Moses wrote that "the children of Israel SIGHED by reason of the bondage, and they CRIED, and their CRY came up unto God by reason of the bondage" (Ex.2:23). God says to Moses, "And the LORD said, I have surely SEEN the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have HEARD their CRY by reason of their taskmasters; for I KNOW their sorrows" (Ex.3:7). In verse 9, He says, "Now therefore, behold, the CRY of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also SEEN the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them." In verse 16, He says, "I have surely visited you, and SEEN that which is done to you in Egypt." The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus Christ, "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong CRYING and TEARS unto him that was able to save him from death, and was HEARD in that he feared" (Heb.5:7). God sees our tears and hears our cry. He knows our daily trials and troubles, and understands our yearly yearnings and struggles.

Be they tears of Trials and troubles, He knows! Be they tears of an Empty life, He knows! Be they tears of Adverse circumstances, He knows. Be they tears of Raggedness, He knows, and be they tears of Sorrow, He knows - T.E.A.R.S!

Tears flow when the heart bleeds for hurts and pains. Tears flow when words fail. Tears flow when love is not returned. Tears flow when love is misunderstood. Tears flow when love is rejected. Tears flow when it seems like all you do amounts to nothing. Tears flow when adversity becomes unbearable. Tears flow when you can't make out the head or tail of all that is going on in your life. Tears flow when your prayers seem unanswered.

Our tears are prayers. God is touched when we shed tears. Unkind people do not deserve our tears. Mean people are undeserving of our tears. People who are too bothered about their own problems to care about others are undeserving of our tears. Not everyone has a shoulder on which we can cry or let out the tears. We must cherish those who qualify to see and share in our tears. It was Gabriel Garcia Marquez who said that "nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry." Look for people like Paul, who are "mindful of thy tears" (2Tim.1:4). Paul tells the church in Corinth, "For out of MUCH AFFLICTION and ANGUISH OF HEART I wrote unto you with MANY TEARS; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you" (2Cor.2:4). In John 11, we read that Jesus wept. Yes, He wept with those who wept! 

Tears show the pain in the heart. Men of dry eyes may never know the place and power of tears. No one who lives by faith lacks tears in his eyes. Tears are truly medicinal. They cleanse the heart and make room for fresh exhilaration.

God regards the tears of His saints as sacred. God sees the tears of the believer in Christ Jesus as prayerful libations poured out to Him. Religion without tears is a heartless and an unhealthy thing. Job says, "My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God" (Jb.16:20).

Child of God, look beyond your tears and see the hidden gems in them!

*Treasure in tears (Act.20:19).

*Edge of experience (2Cor.1:3-4).

*Altar of tears (Isa.38:5; Lk.7:38,44; Act.20:19,31)

*Rest from tears (Rev.7:17; 21:4)

*Songs out of tears (Jb.35:10; the Psalms)

Offer your tears to God; He has a sacred bottle for them. Don't waste your sorrows; let God have them. Those who sow in tears shall also reap with joy, as the Bible says. And also, weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. God has your tears in His bottle. You will not cry forever. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter