Psalm 56:8 You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in your book? NKJV
Of Tear Drops and Pillows
Today in 1846, the Smithsonian institute was created.
James Smithson, an Englishman and illegitimate and unacknowledged son of a nobleman, was born in France and later buried in Italy. Though widely travelled in his lifetime, Smithson however, had never visited the United States! Yet on his death, he left his fortune to his nephew, Henry James Dickinson, son of his brother who had died in 1820, stipulating that, “If that nephew died without legitimate or illegitimate children, the money should go to the United States of America, to found at Washington, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” Smithson’s nephew, Mr. Henry James did in fact die without an heir and subsequently, over ½ million dollars in gold came to the United States. A tidy little sum even in those days that’s for sure!
Smithson gave over his life to investigating the natural world and was already the embodiment of both a chemist and mineralogist when aged just twenty-two years, he became the youngest elected fellow of the ‘Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge.’ Smithson in his lifetime, wrote twenty seven scientific papers, one of which was even dedicated to the chemical composition, of a 'Lady’s teardrop'. Imagine that!
Tears are the liquid produced by the body to both clean and lubricate the eyes. There are in fact three types of tears. The first are 'Basal', produced by the lachrymal system or the tear system. These basically, keep the cornea continually lubricated. The second type are called 'Reflex' tears and are produced in an attempt to flush out the eye in response to any irritation really, from grit to onion vapours. Isn’t God amazing!
The third type of tears are common only to humans and
they are called 'Psychic' tears, crying tears, that are produced by strong emotional stress, or physical pain. Wikipedia reports that, “Tears brought about by emotions have a different chemical make up than those for lubrication.” Maybe Smithson wasn’t that eccentric in scientific investigations after all!Certainly the tie between our declarative and emotional memory systems, produces tears. Therefore the source of the cause of these tears, as well as the chemical composition of these same crying tears, have made them to us, special, eventful, honourable even and worthy of a moist and most special consideration.
Tears of sadness, tears of woundedness, tears of sorrow, tears of grief, indeed all the big seas of our tears, cried over the centuries by a billion men, women and children alike, are noteworthy, are notable, are not forgotten. In times past, tears cried at funerals for example, were placed in a bottle and then later the bottle was placed at the graveside as a mark of respect. In the American Civil War, it is also reported that ladies left behind and crying over their men folk would save their tears in a bottle and then give them to their returned men as tokens of their love and testimony to their faithfulness.
Selling 'the saving of our tears' in bottles, or 'lachrymatory' as it is called, is still good business today by the way, and for just a few bucks you can purchase your very own tear bottle and have it shipped straight to your door! Never the less, I still think that even our modern day, slick business practice, does not take away the honour we all give to all the genuine tears that are cried.
In our text for today, David under the guidance of the Holy Spirit says something so matter of fact, so simple even, that it is both solid in its profundity and supremely comforting in its content. David tells us, that God has got two methods of recording our sorrows: God has both a bottle and a book for the tears of His people! Did you know that the shelves of God’s study are full of ten thousand million and millions of sparkling bejewelled bottles and many of them contain your tears? Tears you thought no one saw, tears you thought no one cared about, tears you thought He was indifferent to, tears you thought He had forgotten! No, He has not forgotten them! For in God’s double accounting, not only is there a bottle, but there is also a book, and in that book is a ledger of every millilitre of special compound psychic tear, that you have dropped to the ground in your deep distress. Dear friend, beloved of God, every drop is recorded and kept, every single drop.
We can go to sleep tonight then, knowing that God looks at our sorrows with tender compassion and genuine concern. We can go to sleep tonight then, knowing that He is also truly afflicted with our afflictions and that our sorrows are indeed very precious in His sight and are never to be forgotten by Him. So then, regarding your sorrows, let me tell you once more tonight, that God has a double record of them, in both bottle and in book.
Listen:- "Go and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears;” Isaiah 38:5a NKJV
Pray:- Lord, much of what could never be said, my whole being has wrapped up in a chemical compound, and poured upon Your feet. This, according to Your Word is deposited with You. So then, touch my tears O Lord, wipe them upon Your very own cheeks. Let them drip down My God, and then take Your tongue and taste my most terrible concern, taste all my desperate sorrows, taste all my pitiful pleadings, now flowing in the crease of Your lips, now lake’d in the corner of Your mouth. O Lord, may my tears turn Your taste buds into dancing alters, which are set ablaze by the offered up pleadings of my most desperate outpourings, and then, then may Your tasting be turned to Your telling, and Your sending of comfort and answers, to my most desperate of beds. Tonight my God, I close my eyes and I pray to You and say, “Even so come quickly Lord Jesus, yes even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.” Amen.
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