What does it mean that God collects our tears in a bottle? | GotQuestions.org

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What does it mean that God collects our tears in a bottle? While in the custody of his enemies,

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David wrote, You have kept count of my tossings. Put my tears in your bottle. David was going through a difficult time.

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He begins this sad psalm with the words, Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me all day long and the attacker oppresses me.

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The Philistines had captured David in Gath. David was, at the time he wrote this psalm, a prisoner of war.

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And he had a reason to cry and be sorrowful. David says that his struggles are recorded in God's book.

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And he asks God to put his tears in his bottle. What does this poetic language mean?

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Does God really have a bottle where all our tears go? Are the events of our lives really written in a book?

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The idea behind the keeping of tears in a bottle is remembrance. David is expressing a deep trust in God.

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God will remember his sorrow and tears and not forget about them. David is confident that God is on his side.

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He says in the midst of this troubling time, this I know, God is for me. And in God I trust,

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I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? God may not have an actual bottle where our tears are kept or a literal book where sorrows are recorded, but he nonetheless remembers all the things that happen in our lives, including the suffering endured for his sake.

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In fact, there are many instances in scripture of God's recognition of man's suffering. God is a tenderhearted father to us, a

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God who feels with us and weeps with us. The fact that God remembers us and our sufferings should be very comforting.

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Often obedience and following Jesus create suffering in our lives. This should not be a surprise.

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Jesus spoke on multiple occasions of the suffering that accompanies discipleship. Jesus warned, everyone will hate you because of me.

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The Lord said that Paul would be shown how much he must suffer for my name. Loss, even when that loss is a result of obedience to God, creates real suffering and real tears.

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But God remembers our sufferings and he has promised to more than compensate. Our tears are not futile.

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God knows each of his children intimately and every tear we shed has meaning to him. He remembers our sorrow as if he kept each tear in a bottle.

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In the end, he will share his joy with us when he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

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There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away.