All The Tears

Based on Psalms 56

Have you ever thought about a tear?

You know…the wet salty substance that forms in your eyes.  Have you ever thought about why pain produces water in your eyes?  Why does pain from our hearts flow like water?   Could it be that God is aware that our hearts could not contain the vast amount of pain we would experience in this world? So He provided a way for broken hearts to find relief…tears.  Once that pressure valve gets activated, the tears start flowing.  These tears then cascade down our cheeks with unyielding demand.

One day as I was cleaning the kitchen, the ringer on my phone went off.  I looked down and saw a message from a friend.

  “Can you talk?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

The next text from her read, “Can we meet somewhere?”

I knew then that my friend needed more than just a casual conversation.  As we both arrived at our meeting place, she asked if we could talk in her car.  When I opened the door and stepped into her vehicle, it was obvious that she had a broken heart…I saw tears.  I sat in the front seat of her vehicle and listened as she poured out her heart to me sharing her deep hurts. As I sat and listened, I also had tears as I felt her pain.  I wanted to rescue her.  But as I sat there, I was reminded that she had to go through this hurt.  If I rescued her, she would never experience the healing power of Christ in her life.  My responsibility as a friend was to listen and then point her to Jesus. I reminded her that God knows that she is one of His most precious creations. There were a lot of tears on that day.  Side note…can I say that this girl is beautiful when she cries?  Her beautiful blue eyes sparkled even brighter when they were moist with her tears.  No one should be able to cry that pretty.

About a month later, I sent her a text.  It read…

“Can we switch roles now? I’m hurting and could use a friend. Would you happen to have any time tomorrow so I can dump and cry? But trust me, I don’t cry pretty.”

It was now my turn to cry.  When we pulled into our reserved “cry fest” parking spot, I rolled down my window and she said,

“my vehicle or yours.” 

I replied, “yours please.” 

Her car had already been baptized with her tears, so let’s just add mine to the collection!

I cried,

she listened,

she cried with me…

  and she pointed me to Jesus.

Those days of unbearable pain brought ungovernable tears for both of us. It didn’t matter how hard we tried to hide the tears; they could not be hidden. On those days, we had “all the tears.”

Have you ever had a day when the tears won’t stop? The hurt inside your soul is more than it can hold, so the expression of pain in the form of tears flow from your soul with an unending supply.

In the book of Psalms, King David was a man of many tears. Amidst the strong and handsome stature of King David lies a tender and often broken heart. David’s heart was tender towards God. But in his pursuit to do things right, others pursued him to do things wrong.  There was a bounty on his head and his enemies were determined. He was now the target for “the hunt”. 

                “O God, have mercy on me, for people are hounding me.

                My foes attack me all day long.

                I am constantly hounded by those who slander me, and many are boldly attacking me.” Psalms 56:1,2

In his exhaustion to run from those who pursued him, he broke.  He had been fighting his enemy which pushed his faith to rely on God.  But even in his strength, his heart broke to the point of tearful exhaustion. At the brink of despair, this is what David says to God…

                “You keep track of all my sorrows.

As I have run from my enemies with no moment of rest,

You have watched me take each step. 

As I have cried out to You in my despair,

You have written down each emotion,

each anxious thought as I have feared for my life,

each temptation to surrender to their hunt.  

I have often lost track of You, but You have never lost track of me.

                You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

As I have paused at this rock of despair,

You have collected my sorrows. 

As the unrelenting tears have streamed down my face,

You collected each one and placed them in my bottle. 

As I pause in my despair, You pause with me.

You have recorded each one in your book.”  Psalms 56:8

As I pour out my heart to You,

You have taken each sorrow and kept them safe in my book of records.

My sorrows are not discarded like an old rag or useless jar,

but You record them for me reminding me that in my next moment of despair,

You have cared for me and have walked along side me.

As God and David sat together in that moment, David knew that God had kept track of every sorrow, every tear, every heart break. God chose the vessel of a bottle to hold every tear that David cried. Not one tear had been wasted or discarded.

David, do you remember when your best friend, Jonathan died? I sat by your side in the wheat field as you cried yourself to sleep in your sorrow.  I have saved every one of those tears.

Do you remember when you stole the life and wife of Uriah? You spent years trying to cover up the wrong that you did, but I knew that at some point you would break in your sorrow.  I held your bottle in My hands until it was time for you to release your tears. Your heart eventually broke because of your sin. Those tears are still in this bottle.

Do you remember when your precious son died?  As you sat there at his bedside, I quietly sat next to you holding your bottle. Once he died, you laid in your bed for endless days crying out to Me. Those tears are still here.

You have had many heart aches in your life and with each battle of brokenness, I have saved your tears…all your tears.  None of them have been wasted or forgotten.  I love you that much,” … God.

Those days when my friend and I sat in her car, God caught every one of our tears.  He quietly held each of our bottles and as the tears rolled off our cheeks, then He placed them gently in our bottle.  Once our tears were carefully caught in our bottle, He took those tears and he recorded them in His book to remind us that He cares so much for us that He cherished each one of our tears.

When we cry “all the tears”, not one of those tears are wasted, discarded, or forgotten.  God feels every hurt, every pain, every battle.  He catches every tear that we cry, and He never hurries us in our pain.

The next time your heartache releases as tears on your face, remember that God is holding a bottle with your name on it.