Tear Bottle

Psalm 56:8
"You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?"

I think this verse has to be one of the most comforting verses in the Bible. The creator of the universe takes notice of all our tears. Even when we feel like no one knows our hurts and our pain, He does and keeps record.

I did not realize until I did a little research on this verse that throughout history people have used “tear bottles” to capture and keep their tears? I just looked and you can even purchase tear bottles on Ebay (is there nothing that you can’t find on EBay?) Also, http://www.lachrymatory.com/ is an interesting website that detail the history of the tear bottle. The following is from this website:

Tear bottles were fairly common in Roman times, around the time of Christ, when mourners filled small glass bottles or cups with tears and placed them in burial tombs as symbols of respect. Sometimes women were even paid to cry into these vessels, as they walked along the mourning procession. Those crying the loudest and producing the most tears received the most compensation, or so the legend goes. The more anguish and tears produced, the more important and valued the deceased person was perceived to be.

Tear bottles reappeared during the Victorian period of the 19th century, when those mourning the loss of loved ones would collect their tears in bottles with special stoppers that allowed the tears to evaporate. When the tears had evaporated, the mourning period would end.

In some American Civil War stories, women were said to have cried into tear bottles and saved them until their husbands returned from battle. Their collected tears would show the men how much they were adored and missed.

All this leads me to a question. If you had carried a tear bottle with you for your entire life, how deep would the collection of your tears be? At this point in your life, would your tears be too heavy to even carry. To me, one of the beautiful points to Psalms 56:8 is that He puts your tears in HIS bottle. We don’t have to lug our tears throughout this life- He takes them!
And one glorious day, there will never be a tear shed again:

Revelation 7:17
For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Join us for more “Tuesday Together in the Word” posts at DeeDee’s site. Please join us this week as we read and discuss Hebrews 7-12, Proverbs 14 and Psalms 58-59.

Blessings to You,
Kelly