Psalm 56

There is such a beautiful verse in this psalm, perhaps one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible: “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (vs 8)

When I became a stay-at-home mom for the first time with my baby daughter, I remember that there was nothing harder for me than when she cried. Oh, I don’t mean when I heard the sound of her crying. It was seeing her cry that really got to me. I could handle the moments when she was screaming her head off for one reason or another. But it was too much for me when tiny tears would slip down her cheeks. When she would cry those little tears, it broke my heart!

Maybe that’s why David’s image of God collecting our tears in His special bottle resonated so much with me from this psalm. To Him, our tears are as precious and bittersweet as my daughter’s tears were (and still are) to me. So much so that He takes note of each one, “collecting” them (as it were) in a special place in His memory.

It makes me think of how Isaiah described Christ, as “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.” (Isa 53:3) God not only knows our sorrows, but He also identifies with them. He doesn’t just empathize with us in our grief; He can sympathize. He has collected each of our tears in His bottle. More than that, He has embraced our sorrow in His flesh. He knows every hurt, every ache, every pain.

Whatever sorrow you’re facing in life today, know that God has seen it and will remember it forever. He has recorded each tear. He has heard each sigh. And Jesus came in the flesh so we would know for sure that God was intimately acquainted with our grief. He really knows your sorrows—better than anyone else.