I am a crier. I cry when I am happy. I cry when I am sad. I cry when I am really mad.
Lately, I have cried a lot.
I have cried for family and friends as they experience death of loved ones, financial hardship and the loss of dreams.
I have cried because of my own disappointments, fears and loneliness.
I have cried and sometimes even wonder if God sees my tears and hears my cries.
Yet I know for a fact God does see my tears and hear my cries. King David wrote about it in Psalm 56. Written when he had been captured by the Philistines, he was alone, desperate and afraid.
David cried out to God:
You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in Your bottle.
You have recorded each one in Your book.
I have been chewing on verse 8 all afternoon and am so encouraged...
God keeps track of all my sorrows. He does not dismiss one second of my pain, sadness or suffering as insignificant. He knows and understands them all.
God collects all of my tears. He has been collecting my lifetime of tears; He caught the very first one I cried as a newborn babe and He will catch every one until my dying breath.
God records each one of my tears in His book. If God were to show me the bottle of my tears, He is able to point out the specific details associated with every single tear: the who, what, when, where and why for each tear I have cried - and will cry.
So if God saves my tears, counts them and records them, then it means my tears - my pain, sadness and suffering - are precious and valuable to Him!
And if God considers my tears precious and valuable, then it means He considers me even more precious and valuable!
The knowledge that God sees my tears and heard my cries, loves me and cares for me, and considers me precious and valuable, is overwhelming.
And yes, it make me cry...grateful tears!