Oh my, it really is amazing how intimately acquainted God is with His children. I know the Scripture that says that the Lord is aware of how many hairs are on our heads. Okay, I don't know about you but I lose hair daily. If that Scripture means what it says then it confirms God's Omniscience or that God really does know everything and if the Lord is Omnipresent or not limited by time, that means He can know even when those hairs disappear from my head! This knowledge is just too great for me!
I recently discovered the word lachrymatory, and I wondered if it had to do with cremation or something and I thought this isn't such a pretty word (at least by its sound.) But as I did a study on these verses in Psalm 56, I discovered that this lachrymatory is actually a tear bottle. Why in the world anyone would use a tear bottle. (And my friend Peggy actually brought me back a replica of one from Israel when she was there several years ago.)
Psalm 56:8-13
" You have taken account of my wanderings ; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your Book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; this I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Your vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You. For You have delivered my soul from death, indeed my feet from stumbling, so that I may walk before God In the light of the living."
 |
| My Ever Present Help in Times of Trouble |
C.H. Spurgeon states that "The custom in old times was, when a person was ill or in great distress, for his friends to go to see him, and take with them a tear bottle. Then, as the tears rolled down the cheeks of the sufferer, they were caught in these bottles, sealed up, and preserved as a memorial of the event." Henceforth, we have tear bottles or lachrymatories.
From the study of the Scriptures I have picked up that the Israelites were always big on remembering. I believe that came from the Lord who didn't want them to miss a thing lest they would forget the goodness of the Lord each time He delivered, provided for or healed them. Seems as though God knows just how easily we forget those times when the course of our lives is changed and for the better outcome!
Can you, as a child of God's, think of the times that you have shed your tears? Some of us cry often and for not even a real reason except that we are "emotional" about everything. Some of us have poured out our anguished hearts for very good reasons. There are also those tears that roll down our faces from too much laughter and joy. I am not certain about whether or not God collects those tears of joy but why not remember great times also...? If the joy comes from the Lord and His goodness, yes! We will remember.
As I think on the times in my life when I have wept over my varied difficult situations I am choosing to remember the goodness of the Lord in the outcome of each of those situations. It is always easier to review after coming through! Because that is when I can see the Lord's goodness poured out in each situation. Like David says in the verses above, "...in God I will put my trust." My shed tears are the remembrance of how He takes an impossible situation and turns it around so that I can "Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD" Psalm 27:14!
Your tears do not go unnoticed by our God, to the point that they are collected by Him and reveal His tender mercies toward His children in their hours of distress. You are greatly loved by the Father and He will bring you forth as gold as you wait and be strong in Him. Fear not for God is with you and not against you because He loves you!
