I was reading through Psalm 56 as part of a daily Bible study I do with my core group of girls, and I just love the confidence in God that we find in this Psalm! The overarching theme of the chapter is…no matter what may come, we can trust the Lord because He has consistently shown up, time and time again—not just for David, but for us too. He has a flawless track record! And as we praise and confidently trust in Him, the tide of our battles turns and the enemy flees.
But I think one of my favorite verses from this chapter, which I often ponder in my heart, is the one that speaks of Him collecting our tears.
“You’ve kept track of all my wandering and my weeping. You’ve stored my many tears in your bottle—not one will be lost. For they are all recorded in your book of remembrance.”
– Psalms 56:8 TPT
Just before this verse, you see our Warrior Father stepping in and decimating our enemies. But in the midst of it, with battle smoke still hanging in the air, these words invite us to picture Him turning to us, as our Abba, and reassuringly say, “Don’t be afraid,” as He takes His big, strong hand and ever-so gently removes the tears from our cheeks, carefully placing them into a bottle because they are precious to Him—because WE are precious to Him. Then He records that moment in His book of remembrance. 🥹
He doesn’t just remove our tears. He makes a special point of saying, He remembers the wandering and the weeping, and He remembers how we came to Him. He knows that we trusted Him, and He invites us to recall how He took care of us.
Maybe that’s why He likes it so much when we thank Him for all He’s done. It’s like, I get this picture of sharing those memories with the Lord like, “Dad, remember when this really painful thing happened and You were there for me?” And He just smiles and says, “Yes, I remember. You were so strong that day. You didn’t try to do it all by yourself. You remembered to trust Me and I’m so proud of you!”
And when the next battle comes, He gets out that old, war-torn book and says, “Remember, we’ve been here before. Do you remember what to do?”
Yes, Father. I do. Look at how You’ve covered me, every single time. And You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. There is no shadow of turning upon you, Abba. I trust You!
I don’t know… I just think that whole, Holy Spirit-inspired picture is the sweetest and most powerful thing! So I asked ChatGPT to do its best to create these pictures for us so you could kind of see it too. I’m so grateful for my Father in Heaven! I am always safe in His care—and so are you!!!
“What harm could man do to me? With God on my side, I will not be afraid of what comes. My heart overflows with praise to God and for his promises. I will always trust in him. So I’m thanking you with all my heart, with gratitude for all you’ve done. I will do everything I’ve promised you, Lord. For you have saved my soul from death and my feet from stumbling so that I can walk before the Lord bathed in his life-giving light.”
– Psalms 56:11-13 TPT
220 Gal 