Page 3 – SOWN IN TEARS

“This is my response to God. Just because I cry my eyes out every time we gather to talk about Jesus does not mean it has to be your response. I am going to cry no matter what is happening. It’s my response to heaven, your response is meant to be different. Just like you and I are different. God made us unique, He just happened to make me a total sob fest and that’s ok. And if you find yourself on the verge of crying do not hold back. Do not count it as a weakness. Tears are heard and seen by God. Not only seen and heard but kept in a bottle. He remembers them and knows each one…”   – (it of course changed weekly, but you get it) 

— Is the speech I gave weekly to a room full of teenagers for a year.

My response to God is a tear streaked face. I was blessed to be raised by parents who taught us that tears were a beautiful gift from our Heavenly Father and never anything to be ashamed of. But don’t think it hasn’t caused a lot of jokes and bets to be made in our friend and family realm. Like, I am no longer allowed to pray over dinner unless you want your food cold. And was asked to pray over the staff lunch once and never again. HA! 

The tears are going to fall, people! We get to talk to the Creator of the Universe. The One who  breathed life into our lungs and called us by name. The One who willingly stood in our place. (insert all the crying gifs) 

But look at Psalm 56:8-11. It says,

“You have recorded my wanderings; put my tears in your bottle; are they not in your book? When I cry to you, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, for God is for me. In God I will praise his word; in the Lord I will praise his word. In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” 

What a beautiful passage of scripture. No wonder God called David a man after His own heart. 

David wrote this passage while he was wandering, of course the man was weeping. His life was one of being removed. He was removed from his fathers home, moved to court, then to camp, driven to sojourn, hunted… Always finding places of safety but never a place to rest. 

It makes me exhausted just reading about it. But then we see how God kept an account of all David’s motions, his steps were even numbered. When we read about David, we see with clarity and assurance of God’s hand upon his life. How God went before him, kept close behind him, and kept His hand upon him. 

We too can take this passage as a comfort. There is so much goodness here, I decided a point system would be best. 

Point 1 –“You have recorded my wanderings”

God not only sees our afflictions but takes notice of them. His love and care are not far off. God is present and attentive to what grieves and wrecks us. 

Point 2 – “Put my tears in your bottle”

Our tears are kept by God. Not only kept, but placed in a bottle to be observed with compassion and concern. 

Our heavenly Father is one who is afflicted with our affliction. (Isaiah 63:9) He is not a God who sits high and mighty with the attitude that we are mere peasants. No! He is a God who knows our souls’ adversity. He is a God who is so concerned about us that He sent His son to stand in our place so we could approach Him and have the choice for eternity with Him. 

Just as the blood of the saints is precious in the Lord’s sight, so too are our deaths and tears. 

“..I have heard your prayer and seen your tears;” – 2 Kings 20:5

Not a single tear will fall to the ground because God KEEPS each one. 

Point 3 – “are they not in your book?”

Not only are they kept in a bottle, God keeps a record in His book! The Book of Remembrance. Can you just try to fathom that? I know I do not want to remember a few seasons of my tears. But we are loved by a God who looks over them with care and concern. Observing them with a passion we cannot imagine. Recording each one like they hold the weight of the world. WHAT A GOD! Keep in mind, God does not need an actual book to remember. He is all-knowing. But He uses metaphors to help us understand what He is trying to imply.  

Point 4 – “When I cry to you, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, for God is for me.”

We do not need a single weapon because TEARS AND PRAYERS ARE ENOUGH! 

Can you imagine shouting this on a battleground? Can you just imagine yourself saying, 

“You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel.?

David was bold in his faith. He knew who His God was and what He alone was capable of. We too can have this confidence by holding tight to the scripture. Learning and leaning on the character of God. 

GOD IS FOR ME! 

• To plead my cause 
• To protect me
• To deliver me 

If God is for me, who can be against me?!!!! What a profound truth. When we live our lives, walking out this truth, we make room for God. This allows Him space to go before us in His power and might. 

When we fight our battles on our knees in prayer the enemy is made to turn back. Our enemies are not flesh and blood but spiritual. 

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:2 

It can be hard at times to see it as a spiritual attack but that is why we are told to pray at all times, mediating on the truth of the gospel. It is the sword of the spirit. 

“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,..” Ephesians 6:18

Prayer is the CORRECT response! 

Point 5 – “ In God I will praise his word; in the Lord I will praise his word. In God I trust; I will not be afraid.”

I can’t help but imagine David stumbling through this phrase. I imagine tears, hiccups, face in the dirt, fists clenched, eyes puffy… A prayer that started out in a whisper ending in a bold, assured statement and it reverberating through the atmosphere, “In God I will praise his word; in the Lord I will praise his word. In God I trust; I will not be afraid.”

Of course that’s just my imagination and not anywhere in the Word. But it paints a picture of what it sounds like to fully and firmly depend on God and His promise. Why? Because He (God) was the one who made it. 

I will trust because it is You alone who is

• True 
• Faithful
• Wise
• Powerful
• Contain enough goodness to make this mess good

Though we may stagger, God does not! He is unrelenting in His care for us. 

Which leads us to the end phrase. 

Point 6 – “In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” 

This is praise. 

Praise is the CORRECT response! JUBILANT TRIUMPHANT PRAISE

“So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper;  I will not fear; what can man do to me?”-Hebrews 13:6

HA! Doesn’t it make you want to high five everyone? Jump around like you won  gold?!!!

What a magnificent God we serve. Read back over Psalm 56:8-11 

Take apart each phrase and recall how God met you there. Pray out this scripture and put yourself in it. 

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

Psalm 126:5

Always for the  King, Angela