Healing Tears

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!

“You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?” - Psalm 56:8

Lord, it is the wee hours of the morning and You rouse me from my slumber.  My heart is heavy for a long-time friend who unexpectedly lost his mother just a day or two ago.  He has asked me to pray for him.  He knows I understand the depths of grief that accompany the loss of someone we dearly love.  No doubt, now that she is gone, there are things he would have liked to have said, and questions he would have liked to have asked her.  After my husband, Jim, passed, I’m sure there were at least a hundred times when a question arose to which I didn’t have the answer, and the thought automatically came to mind, “Just call and ask Jim.”  But Jim was gone.  It would take a very long time for me to stop defaulting to that ingrained response.  As I pray for him, You whisper to my heart, “ He has lost his mother, but he still has his Father - He still has Me.”

Lord, I lift up my hurting friend and the precious one reading these words.  They also have sustained losses and are familiar with grief and pain.  It doesn’t matter how old they have become, circumstances still arise where they long to run to the one who holds the answer - the one who will dry their tears, kiss their boo-boos and make it all better.  Your Word says, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” - Psalm 68:5  “How often I’ve longed to gather your children, gather your children like a hen, Her brood safe under her wings— but you refused and turned away!” - Luke 13:34b MSG. 

These are Your beloved children, and they have cried so many tears that they wonder if the tears will ever stop.  Your Word says, “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?” - Psalm 56:8.  Recently, You had me study tears.  I found that chemically tears of grief, pain and stress are different than tears we shed when we cut an onion.  Grief tears contain a natural painkiller in response to stress.  I have always looked at this verse (Psalm 56:8) as if it were saying that when we cry, You capture each tear as it falls and store it in a bottle of remembrance.  But when I looked at the words, “put my tears” in the original language, “put my tears” can mean to pour the tears in to or pour OUT OF Your bottle.  What a loving Father You are that when we are upset and cry out in grief, You pour out medicinal tears from Your bottle to ease our pain!

Lord, I lift my precious, hurting friend.  Teach them to run to You.  Teach them how to hear You and receive Your comfort.  Lift the crushing weight of emotion weighing so heavily on their heart.  Bid them to come, crawl up on Your lap and pour our their heart.  They don’t need to be tough, little soldiers who hold back and swallow their tears.  Encourage them to not feel embarrassed, but to see their tears as a loving prescription from their tender-hearted, compassionate Father.  May they feel a wave of relief each time they cry on Your shoulder - each time they bring the burden that is too great to bear.  Soothe them in Your presence.  Bring the settled quietness that accompanies a released burden.  You are a father to the fatherless and a mother to the motherless.  Hold and comfort Your child.  Show them the depth of Your love and compassion.  Reveal Yourself as their God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) - the God who pours our their tears from His bottle to ease their pain.  Comfort Your child, Lord!  In Jesus Name ❤️