Tears in a bottle by Dr. Joseph Chavady

"Put my tears into your bottle; are they not in your book?" (Psalm 56:8).

The National museum in Tehran, Iran, has ancient artifacts dating back some 6,000 years. In that museum there are some odd shaped bottles. When a husband went off to war, the wife or loved one would weep and collect their tears in a bottle, and upon his return she would hand to her beloved the bottle of tears — they spoke louder than the words ‘I love you'. Scripture tells us that God has a bottle, in which He collects our tears.

Strange Scriptures for the Western mind, but the old Middle Eastern custom of collecting the tears of the family and preserving tears in bottles is normal. When death or serious trouble occurred, each member of the family brought his or her tear bottle and collected tears from all the persons present. These bottles were sacred to the family members because they represented all the sorrows of the family. Each person was buried with his or her tear bottle. Many of these have been found in ancient tombs.

King David was someone who knows what it is to shed many tears. Yet even in his tears and in his exile, he finds comfort. He realizes that God is taking note of everything he is going through. A record is being kept in God’s book of all that he suffers.

Even his tears are not shed in vain. They are tears of grief and loneliness, but not of despair. There is a future to them. At present they are a token of suffering, but one day each tear will become the theme for a song of praise. So David says to God, “Put my tears in Thy bottle—store them up carefully for me.”

Suffering is an almost inevitable part of human life, but it is not necessarily evil. Its outcome will depend on how we react to it. There is an old saying: “To be beautiful one must suffer.” Suffering endured in faith and for the sake of righteousness imparts a unique beauty that death cannot destroy. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us”

May God encourage Your heart today. He knows what You are going through and He is able.

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