What does it mean that God collects our tears in a bottle?

There are many tender and beautiful figures used in the scripture to express God's loving care and interest in His children. And the one referred to in the heading of this letter is not the least striking. The Psalmist is speaking of the enemies that daily oppress and persecute him. But in the face of all their evil threatenings he looks up confidently to God as his preserver. "What time I am afraid," said he, "I will trust in Thee." And then he gives utterance to his implicit reliance upon the individual interest that God was taking in all his circumstances of trial. "Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into Thy bottle" (Psalm 56:8).

The figurative expression is not a difficult one to understand. To put tears into a bottle conveys at once the idea of preserving them as being precious. It appears to have been customary in the East to put up in bags or small bottles, secured with a seal, any small articles of value, such as gold or silver ornaments, or precious stones. Hence the general sense of the words seems to be that of God regarding David's tears as of such value as to be treasured up by Him.

There are two other humble domestic utensils which also are used to convey stupendous revelations of the divine nature. One is the bottle of Ps. 56:8, "Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle." This is an allusion to the ancient tear-bottles or lachrymatories often found in Egyptian tombs. It expresses in a very powerful and living way the sympathy of the Lord with His suffering people. In all their afflictions He is afflicted. Jesus wept. The third symbol is in the expression "Moab is my washpot." (Ps. 108:9.) Moab's special sin was pride (Isa. 16:6; Jer. 48:29), the most appropriate punishment for which is scorn — "surely He scorns the scorner." [ The bottles of the New Testament have nothing to do with this; they were skins.]

But there is another blessing accompanies this, and a deep one. The soul is in trial, the wicked plotting against it. But God is with it in the sorrow and takes account of it all. He tells the wanderings of the saint, for he is here looked at as deprived of outward privileges with God's people and in His house; but God counts all this up, and the saint can look, as it is beautifully expressed, to His putting every tear into His bottle. Every sorrow of the saint is in His book. It is a blessed thought. So the heart confides in Him and knows that, when it cries to Him, all its enemies will be turned back. Then, as it praised His word in faith in the midst of its fears and sorrows, looking to it, sustained by it, counting on it - oh, that saints knew how to do it! - so now the soul will do it in counting on deliverance by His sure intervention.

The glory of God is that He is sufficient for the very minute as well as the very vast. As a rule great men attend to great things and leave little things to the care of little men. There are men who can only attend to little things, and are not capable of attending to great things. How blessed it is to turn to our God and know that while He sustains the mighty universe, of whose vast extent man knows but little, He notes the falling tear of His saint. The psalmist could say, “Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?” (Ps. 56:8).

And this shall be; but the psalmist does not here go on to it. He turns back to think of the tenderness of divine sympathy towards him, amid all the roughness and sorrow of the way. Here is a comfort to which Christianity has added so much that it seems as if it could not rightly have been known before. The Son of man down in our world, and not in a sheltered place, but in the bitterest blast that ever blew there, — this has changed all for him that has seen it. Yet the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament, and the revelation of God clothed itself already in the human form, in anticipation of the Word made flesh. "Thou countest my wanderings; my tears have been put into thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?" Tender counterpart, these tears preserved by Him now, to the future wiping them away with His own hand! But they are noted also in His book, just as they fall!

In contrast to the treatment at the hands of the wicked, God counts every step that His people have to take, keeps a bottle for their tears, and a book wherein to record their sorrows. In the consciousness of God's tender care the soul can look for deliverance from his enemies and say with triumphant assurance, “God is for me.”

What can David do with Goliath's sword in Gath? Would he even dare to show it? Association with the world and looking to it for protection too often lead to subjection to it. The title of Psalm 56 implies that this was his case, "The Philistines took him in Gath." Thus, after all that Ahimelech had risked for him and had ministered to him, his unbelief brought him into greater difficulties than those from which he fled. He confesses this in the Psalm: "Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; All the day long he fighting oppresseth me." His distress, more effectual than ministry, cast him upon the mercy of God, and not in vain. Brought into His presence, his faith revived: he became like the David of early days. What now was the estimate of his troubles? He saw at once the utter impotency of man, of whom he had lately been in such abject fear. "What can flesh do unto me? What can man do unto me? What time I am afraid I will trust in thee." If such was man, what had he learned of the Lord? That He was most compassionate, most merciful, entering into all his sorrows and with a perfect knowledge of them. Rarely was David's harp attuned to a sweeter note than is found here. Thou tellest my wanderings: Put thou my tears into thy bottle: Are they not in thy book"? And it is to be noted, that it is when in distress the soul values the word of God. The bed of suffering is very different from the study chair. There the heart has but little sympathy with questions as to the credit of the holy scriptures. Surely David had but little when he sung: "In God will I praise his word, In the LORD will I praise his word."

God's merciful dealings with us in our wanderings produce results. These are described by the Psalmist as "tears." The alternative reading is "My tears have been put in Thy bottle." It is very striking that there should be a resemblance in this verse which linguists describe as a paronomasia, between Nod 'wandering' and Nod 'bottle' (i.e., a skin or leather sack). God has taken perfect cognizance of our devious way and has so arranged matters that there are precious results from the spiritual exercises stimulated therein in the form of minute drops. Moreover, He has provided the receptacle for their collection, so that not one of them may be lost. He counts the tear-drops as well as the wanderings, which are antecedent. There are said to be 60 drops of water in a teaspoonful. (Of course, the number will depend on the size of the drops which in turn depends on certain physical conditions). The apothecary is very careful in gauging potions by the number of drops. Moreover, he enters up the details of every prescription in a book which he preserves with great care. Shall we not join in the Psalmist's beautiful concession to God's care? The result of our spiritual exercise due to discipline may be very small, but it is preserved safely in God's bottle, and the record is entered in His book. How encouraging to know that the process and results are immune from all the evaporating influences of time!

It may be, through the mercy of the Lord, that your tears have hitherto been few, but they will visit you sooner or later, Remember there is One Who counts your every tear-drop. They may be tears of sorrow in bereavement, or because of the wilfulness of others, or because of the suffering that comes upon you on account of your faithfulness to the Lord and His word. In every case, let them be such tears as He can put into His bottle.

"You number my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?" There is no doubt such tears are in the book of God's remembrance (Mal. 3:16, but the book is not always opened, so that the psalmist desires his tears to be kept in a bottle where they will always be a reminder of the suffering of saints on earth. Then again he expresses his firm confidence that when he cries to Him, his enemies will turn back. He knows this, for God is for him (v. 9).