Ticket stubs from favorite trips, concerts, and sporting events. Cards and letters hand-written by loved ones. Teeny infant clothes tucked away in a box, a snip of hair from a child’s first haircut, the first baby tooth lost. A pristinely preserved bridal gown. Sport trophies and medals displayed on a shelf. Christmas ornament memories brought to life each year decorating the tree. The list goes on for how we preserve our most treasured happy memories.

In contrast, I initially found it odd to read in Psalms where David (at that time held captive by his enemies) describes God as follows:

“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” (Psalm 56:8)

Why would God want to preserve tears as a record of suffering? Aren’t tears something we’d want to forget? David expressed poetically that God acknowledges our every tear. Not one escapes His notice. We are never unseen. He keeps account of all of our trials and afflictions. Just as He has perfect inventory of each hair on our head and knowledge of our hearts. 

I asked a few ministers in my local congregation to help me see what else is represented by the bottle of tears. Sometimes I interpret things too literally, so don’t be afraid to ask when you’re confused, as you’ll pick up some gems! 

Brother Paul C. gave me references where God immediately responded to tears with King Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:5), and where a “book of remembrance” is also described (Malachi 3:16). What we sow in tears, we shall reap in joy (Psalm 126:5) and the wonderful promise that in the end, God will wipe away every tear (Revelations 21:4). 

It’s one thing to see someone’s tears, but what love is in the gesture of brushing a tear from a cheek! Brother Paul summed it up by saying, “All the tears that have been stored in the bottle shall be removed in our eternal reward.” 

At times, other humans, including brothers and sisters in Christ, our immediate family, our closest friends, or spouses, fail to fully understand our deepest sorrows. Think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane when His friends kept falling asleep while His despair became so profound that it brought sweat drops of blood as He cried out to the Father. Isaiah 53:3 foretold Jesus would be “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” Hebrews 4:15 declares that in Jesus we have a high priest, but not one that cannot be touched with our infirmities. 

Because God came to earth in the form of His Son, Jesus cannot be socially tone deaf to the pains of human existence. He does not just witness our tears, but He is touched by them and weeps with us, just as He did with Mary and Martha right before he called Lazarus from the grave. Jesus knew he would raise Lazarus all along, so why is it noted that Jesus wept before this great event? Because he felt the pain of those he loved.

In my own role as a parent, I witnessed the tears and struggles each child experienced. Every broken heart, disappointment, failure, rejection, betrayal and even consequences of their own mistakes. Sometimes I thought my heart ached more than theirs did, even though I knew these hard events would help them grow.

Lastly, in my attempt to comprehend God’s bottle of tears, Brother Tom D. shared that it could be viewed as something even more than a mere record of suffering. “Thy bottle” is something the Lord has prepared as a vessel into which we can place our troubles, trials, and tears. The vessel He sent to earth into which we can (fully and securely, emphasis mine) place our burdens, is none other than Jesus Christ.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.