Did you add to your bottle of tears today? We would love to pray for you.

“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)

I confess I’m a crier.  I cry at movies, at baseball games when the national anthem is played, at graduations, weddings, and funerals.  I cry when I hear a sad story, when someone else cries, when I share what God has done in my life, when I’m angry, and even when I laugh hard enough.

I hate the fact that I cry so easily.  It can be incredibly embarrassing for one thing.  And for another, it puts people in an awkward position.  But crying can be a good thing! God created tears – it is in His design that we cry.

I love the Psalms because they give us beautiful pictures of what our intimate relationship with God is like.  And Psalm 56:8 (NLT) gives us one of those snapshots of God’s tenderness with us when we are experiencing incredible sorrow in our life. 

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.  You have recorded each one in your book.”  (I’m sure I have a very BIG bottle!)

God not only keeps track of all our sorrows, hurts and heartaches, He has recorded them in His book. Every tear we’ve cried He has stored in our bottle, the one He keeps just for us. 

I wonder, does my bottle have my name on it?  Is it a special color?  I wonder if God, my Father looks at my bottle full of tears and says, “Ah, that one is my daughter, Kristi’s! Her bottle of tears is so precious to me and I treasure each one. I am intimately acquainted with all her ways and I love her.  When she has cried tears that no one sees, I have seen, I know and cherish each one because I cherish her.”

What a beautiful gentle picture this is of our God – a Father who tenderly collects our tears and holds them close to His heart. 

Have you ever stopped to consider that God is keeping track of all your sorrows? He knows each one of them.  He has seen you cry until you can’t cry any more.  He has witnessed your heartache over a difficult child, a wayward spouse, a broken friendship, or the death of a loved one.  He has seen your tears when you have cried all alone in the dark, not sure of where to turn or where to go.  He has recorded each one in His book and collected your tears in the bottle He has just for you.  How precious you are to Him!

Let the tears flow and know that your God cares for you intimately and with great passion!

Father, Thank you for seeing my tears and for the promise that I am never alone in my sorrow.  Amen.

Question: We all experience tears and heartache in life. How do you reach out to your Savior in times of distress?

When Jesus loves, he works up a sweat; he rolls up his sleeves, gets on his knees, and washes our feet with his blood, sweat, and tears.

He labors at love, though his love is never like labor. He’s a giver, not a taker, loving us into being with a gifted carpenter’s hands. And he’s no slacker, loving us until we can take no more; no more because we’re filled to overflowing, his love spilling and splashing through our pores into the cores of those we love with his love, a love’s labor not lost on a world that needs to be found.

He wrestles our fears and wrangles our doubts and labors at love until he’s exhausted, lying prone in a garden, drinking from God’s cup the nourishment necessary for one last heroic sweaty, bloody, tearful lift of the Father’s infinite love; ready to die for God’s undying love.

A Jesus-love sticks to it, even when the it seems like an unstickable fury that’s no longer fun or convenient or even something you want to do. Jesus keeps on laboring in you and through you, finishing what he started, loving until the last with a love that lasts forever (John 13:1).

Question: What example of Jesus’ labor in love is most striking to you, and why?

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“Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because He no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands” (Malachi 2:13).

The term “crocodile tears” has been around for centuries to describe an insincere display of emotion.

Though the tears the Israelites wept in Malachi’s day may have been real, they didn’t come from a heart of repentance. They were sorry that God no longer listened to their prayers, but they weren’t sorry for their sins – which were the reason God no longer listened.

God’s people had forgotten Him. Instead of being fully devoted to Him, they followed other gods, mere idols, and broke faith with the only true God who had redeemed them. A question comes to mind as I read those words: Do we do that?

Do we weep and mourn over the consequence of our sin rather than over our sin itself? Do we cry out to God to save us and bless us while we continue in our evil ways? Are we sorry for our sin or just sorry that now we’re in so much trouble?

When we accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as having paid the penalty for our sin we enter a covenant relationship with God, a sacred union. Like a marriage, it is an exclusive relationship. We have given God control of our lives and serve Him only.

Sin separates us from God and affects our relationship. As the Psalmist wrote, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18).

Thankfully God always hears the cry of a repentant heart. Therefore, let us humble ourselves before Him, not with a show of tears, but with a contrite heart.

Father God, forgive me when I cry out for help but am unwilling to repent. Don’t let me break faith with You, my Redeemer and Lord. Amen.

Questions: Why do we sometimes ask God to fix our situation without repenting of our sin? How can we guard against breaking faith with God?

Have you ever had a really deep, dark struggle in your life? I have. It sent me to my knees to truly seek the Lord. Out of that time of struggle came the Lord’s peace and this piece, which I offer for the comfort of another. I pray the Lord will touch your heart in a positive way through my experience.

“He took him aside from the multitude” (Mark 7:33a NKJV).

Oh, from these bars of confinement that have shut me in, I cry out to God. From this darkness that surrounds me, it seems as though all is lost. Yet, I know all things are sifted through the loving fingers of my precious Lord. Wishing to commune with me, He allows this thing to touch my life right now.

As I feel the sting of heartache and loneliness, the restlessness of discontent and frustration, the anguish of defeat and helplessness, He withdraws me from the busyness of the world that I may be still before Him and wait.

Hidden from everyone’s view, tears quietly stream down my cheeks, but the Lord sees my aching heart, and with His nail-scarred hand, He wipes away my tears. “Nearly all God’s jewels are crystallized tears,” someone once said.

Too many voices clamor for my attention. My ears, wearied from the noise of the world, impatiently wait for the comforting sound of His voice. All things fall by the wayside when the indescribable Still Small Voice whispers ever so quietly to my listening soul.

The Lord “takes me aside from the crowd [privately]” into absolute aloneness with Him, that I may listen only to Him. His words of love and comfort speak thunderously in this solitude. It is from here that I must search for His loving purpose.

The Lord’s purpose in taking me aside is never immediately discerned. However, getting my attention and bringing me into a deeper relationship with Him is always His will in my blackest hours.

When the darkness and loneliness loom endlessly, they yet result in the richest and most rewarding of all spiritual experiences, for it is then that I see my darkness is but the overshadowing of the wings of the Lord. It is then I await the radiance of His glorious light to fall from heaven that I might behold my precious Savior.

As dew is quietly dispensed in the gloom of night, so the Holy Spirit comes to silently distill His peace and comfort. In waves of coolness, He breathes upon me like a refreshing wind.

Just as the countless grains of parched, desert sand crave rainfall, this dry and dusty mortal vessel yearns for those Living Waters provided only by the Lord. Then His peace pours forth as an endless river, rushing over me to cleanse away all that would obstruct my view of Him. As I go to the Well, I drink in His Life and I am revitalized.

When I sing of His wonders and tell of His glories, my walls of confinement fade into nothingness. The way opens before me. In the darkness, I see His brilliant, glistening footsteps on the path before me as if sprinkled with the glitter of heavenly dust, and only the light of praise brings them into focus.

Not all my questions are answered nor all my longings appeased, but His gracious mercy provides the path of recovery to soundness, to wholeness, to a larger place, to Himself.

Maybe out of my desert, rivers of blessings may be poured out to other parched souls. I pray that freedom for others may come out of my confinement, that light for blind eyes may come out of my darkness, and that comfort for the hurting may come out of my loneliness.

It is for this that I praise Him for “taking me aside.”

“And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not” (Isaiah 58:11 AMP).

Father God, Come to my parched heart with the water of Your Spirit. Amen.

Questions: What is your painful struggle? How are you facing your pain?  How can comfort come out of pain?

About the Author Lynn Mosher

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, Hope in God, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog

Domonic, our two and a half year old grandson was “helping” Papa (Grandpa) do some much-needed spring clean up in the back yard. Our backyard is terraced, so when we went to the second layer he started to cry. I asked him why he was crying, and he said, “Me Scaredy!”  It turned out he was scared because he had seen the wild deer wander across that part of the yard in the past, and he was afraid that they might come while we were there. I sat down and enfolded him in my arms, then asked, “Do you think Papa can take care of you? Do you think your Papa can chase the deer away?” He calmed down and seemed to like the idea that Papa could chase the “scary” deer away.

I realized I am not so different than Domonic. I have fears, too. I attempt to deal with fears in a variety of ways. I don’t tend to cry like Domonic did, but I get mad, worried, withdrawn, defensive, over analytical or immobilized, just to mention a few. In the same way that I enfolded Domonic in my arms and assured him I could take care of him, I need to experience God’s embrace in moments of fear and be reassured.

I remember one dark star-filled night walking alone, perplexed and with tears running down my face, crying out to God for help. His response was not verbal but it was so clear. It was as if God was saying to me, His child, “Who made these stars and put them in place? Do you think I’m big enough to handle your problems and fears?” In that moment my fears seemed to shrink, and in a fresh way I understood God’s presence and power. The problem did not go away but I had confidence to move forward knowing God would care of me.

In a world that has many uncertainties the words from Psalm 147 can bring comfort. God is big enough to comfort His child in the midst of all possible fears!

“Praise the Lord!  For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is becoming. The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite. The Lord supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground” (Psalm 147:1-6 (NIV).

Questions: How do you respond in the face of fear? What steps can you start to take to help you face the future positively and without fear?

About the Author Mike Woodard

Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, Help for Hard Times, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog