Tears in a Bottle

Psalm 56

It’s an image to stop you in your tracks – in a good way: God collecting our tears (verse 8). He either records them on his scroll, or collects them in his wineskin, depending on the translation. The latter image makes more sense. How striking to consider that God totally forgets our sins when we ask forgiveness, but records all our sorrows, or even collects them. This is compassion.

When trouble or grief comes, we are surrounded by comfort, for a while. Eventually life is assumed to get back to ‘normal’ (whatever that is), but we are left with the reality that has come.

God doesn’t forget.

Prayer:
God, help us set aside our preoccupation with the sins of others, and replace it with being attuned to one another’s sorrows. Through Christ. Amen.