He put my tears in His bottle

​One of the notable qualities of the Psalms is their raw honesty. They aren’t neat and clean; they aren’t whitewashed. So often they put into words what my heart feels, but my head cannot comprehend. This morning, Psalm 56:8 caught my attention. “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”
 
Maybe “suffering” is on my mind after hearing Keith Weaver’s message this past Sunday. Or perhaps it is because my prayers in the midst of the Coronavirus contain the words, “Do not forget us” or “It seems like you’re not paying attention to our troubles, God.”
 
Many Psalms, including others by King David, often complain that God is absent or that He fails to notice their suffering. Here in Psalm 56:8, the psalmist expresses confidence that God watches over him, even amid his suffering. The psalmist is unsettled—tossing about in his time of trouble. Yet, he recognized that God did not abandon him.
 
What a beautiful word picture; He “put my tears in [His] bottle.” God does not miss my anguish or fear. He is the Rock on which I stand! A global pandemic might shake my confidence in myself, the scientific world, the economy, the leaders over me, but God is powerful, righteous, and my Rock in this storm. Not only does He have control of all things, but He keeps track of what causes me troubles.
 
So, I can walk through this time, not shaken by what I cannot control. I can be honest with what I feel, and then fully rest my concerns on the Rock that supports me.
 
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

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