You Have Collected All My Tears In Your Bottle

I very recently went through a physically and emotionally traumatic experience. Again. As I type, the pain is still so very raw.

One verse kept ringing through my head the whole time:

Proverbs 24:10 If you faint in the day of adversity, how small is your strength!

A friend advised me to feel all my feelings. And cried for about 15 minutes as I stood under a steaming hot shower. It was oddly comforting as the hot water soothed my aching body and the tears helped soothe my aching soul. Jesus is no stranger to tears. He wept when His friend Lazarus died even though Jesus knew He was going to bring Lazarus back to life again. This shows me that it doesn’t make me any less of a believer when I weep over the loss of a loved one, even though I know that Jesus will bring them back to life again at the end. We weep, but we have hope. We do not weep without hope.

Aside from the crying, there was this constant deep sadness that stayed with me, day and night. I remembered some of the wise sayings I’ve heard about times like this. “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.” Those wise sayings seem so far-fetched in the moment. Like did the people who said this actually experience a truly tough time? I couldn’t bring myself to pray about it. So, I just came to God and cried. And that’s ok. My Heavenly Father not only understood the language of my tears, but He treasured them.

Psalm 56:8 You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book.

This too was comforting. God keeps track of my sorrow. It does not go unnoticed by Him. He also collects each tear I cry, then goes a step further and records when I cried it and why. Ok. My God cares about every aspect of me. His love is beyond measure. The more I get to know God through His Word, the more this love of His for me is revealed.

So now I’ve been reminded of God’s great love for me, and it feels like a warm hug. So why isn’t all this sorrow and sadness washed away now? Then I discovered through the Scriptures that Jesus went through the exact same thing! Imagine that.

Matthew 26:36-39 (AMPC)
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He told His disciples, sit down here while I go over yonder and pray. And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to show grief and distress of mind and was deeply depressed. Then He said to them, My soul is very sad and deeply grieved, so that I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and keep awake and keep watch with Me. And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire.

Jesus was ravaged with grief. His soul, the seat of His emotions, was very sad and deeply grieved, so that He said, “I am almost dying of sorrow.” Wow. He has been where I am right now. So, what did He do? How did He get out of that crippling state?
1. Jesus prayed to God the Father
2. Jesus submitted to God’s will, not His desires.

Let no sadness, grief, sorrow or depression ever prevent you from going to God your Heavenly Father in prayer. Even if it means throwing yourself face first on the ground and crying till your tears turn to blood like Jesus. Prayer gives us supernatural strength to face, go through and triumph over situations that would otherwise “finish us”. We see it in verse 41 of the above Scripture where Jesus encourages His disciples to pray telling them that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The spirit is willing to trust God even in the valley of tribulation, but the flesh sees and feels all the pain and wonders why God would let all this happen.

Credit: iStock/Khanchit Khirisutchalual

Prayer gives us the strength to trust God despite, and in spite of, sorrow, tribulations and hard times. I literally had to force myself to pray because my flesh did not want to, but my spirit knew prayer was the path to my deliverance. So, I crucified my flesh like Paul. It hurt. Then it hurt less and less as the prayers brought me peace like nothing in this world ever could. It was peace beyond human understanding, and it came through faith. I did not understand why I had to go through that sorrow over and over, frankly I still don’t. But faith is not a feeling, and it does not come from human understanding. Faith is a choice. I thank God for giving me the grace to choose faith and He will give you that same grace too. All you have to do is just ask for it.

Luke 22:43-44 An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

As Jesus prayed, God sent an angel from heaven to strengthen Him. The angel did not take the anguish or sorrow away but gave Jesus the spiritual strength He needed to pray even more earnestly, then to go through the valley of tribulation and come through it. I must go through this valley of deep sadness and sorrow, as I pray and continue to pray, God will strengthen me to come through it. Though weeping may endure for the night, I am assured that joy will come in the morning. It doesn’t matter which time of sorrow or anguish filled night you are in right now dear Mom. It might be early, mid or late in the night for you….but one thing you can be sure of, the night will not last forever. Morning is coming, and with it comes joy, peace and healing.

Psalm 30:5 Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 27:13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.
Psalm 30:11-12 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing Your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever!