Psalm 56:8–11 You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. 10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, 11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Yesterday we looked at trials and afflictions from our point of view, and we saw how they produce in us a harvest of righteousness stretching to all eternity. Therefore, though they are painful, we can and we should count them as “all joy.” Today we turn the camera around to look at similar events in the life of David but more from God’s viewpoint.
One of the temptations we all face at some point when we are afflicted is to believe that God is indifferent to our situation. We listen to that inner nagging that would have us believe that He doesn’t care. After all, He has countless things to do in sustaining the universe, and much worthier recipients for his attention than us, right?
In Psalm 56, David (not unusually) is under attack by his enemies. However, the attack is in terms of character assassination. His words are twisted and taken out of context (v 5). Gossip and rumor are being spread about David. His enemies lurk around, seeking to trip David up in something and to destroy him (v 6). David is genuinely afraid (v 3) by this barrage, day after day, from those who oppose him (v 1-2). In fact, as we know from other Psalms and from vs 8, the attacks were so prolonged and so hurtful that they reduced David to tears before the Lord.
And it is in verse 8 that we can answer the question about God’s indifference to David’s situation. We don’t find God saying “No gain without pain!” We don’t hear Him declaring in a voice lacking all sympathy, “This might hurt a bit but in the long term, it’ll do you good.”
What we see instead is something that reveals the tender-heartedness of our God, and shows that He is anything but indifferent to the sufferings of His children. God has kept count of David’s restless tossings and wanderings (v 8). More, says David, God has a special bottle (literally an animal skin container) in which to put the tears of His loved ones! I chose the title of this meditation because of the practise that people have had over the years of putting messages into bottles and letting them be carried by the ocean currents for others to read later on. Isn’t there a message for us in God’s bottle for His people’s tears? He knows, He cares! And to underscore this, David completes the couplet in verse 8 by indicating that God also has a scroll in which they are recorded - God is mindful of them! Not one of them fails to be collected in His bottle; not one is left out of the list on His scroll. God remembers, and if He remembers, He surely cares! If we have a liquid that is precious and costly, what do we do with it? We store it up. Where do we store it? In a special bottle! If we have a fact that is important for us to remember, what do we do with it? We write it down in a special place so we will know where to find it and we will not forget. We need to use this fact as a shield when we are tempted to believe God feels nothing when we go through pain! In verses 9-11, David reflects on this in order to assure Himself that God is on his side, that his enemies will be turned back and that he has no need to be afraid. With God, one man is a majority.
Remember, too, that as our faithful High Priest, Jesus Himself went through all the temptations that we experience (but to a far greater degree since He never yielded to sin), specifically so that He can sympathize with us in our weakness (Hebrews 4:15)!
Let me finish, though, by pointing us to a few other verses that show the extraordinary depth of God’s care and concern for us if we are His. Such verses are helpful allies when we are tempted to think He has left us alone and that He is unmoved by our situation.
Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 72:12–14 For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. 13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. 14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.
Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life...”
Romans 5:7–8 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Ephesians 3:14–19 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father…. that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
He loves us. He is for us. He knows our tears - they are precious to Him and He will remember them! That means that we are not left alone in our suffering, and our pain is neither unwitnessed nor unvalued.
