Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
Psalm 56 is David’s prayer when he was taken by the Philistines in Gath. The danger was real. He had fled from Saul and entered the territory of the Philistines, where men recognized him as the warrior of Israel and said, “Is not this David the king of the land?” (1 Samuel 21:10-11). David “laid up these words in his heart” and was “sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath” (1 Samuel 21:12). Yet faith answered fear: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (v.3). Verse 8 now gives one of the tenderest reasons for that trust. God knew every step of David’s wandering and every tear of his sorrow.
“Thou tellest my wanderings.” To “tell” here is to count, number, mark, and take account. David was not lost in the wilderness of providence. Men saw a fugitive moving from place to place, but God counted every movement. He knew David’s flight from Saul, his danger among the Philistines, his loneliness, his hiding, his displacement, his uncertainty, and his returnings. Saul sought David every day, but God delivered him not into his hand (1 Samuel 23:14). David wandered, but not outside Jehovah’s knowledge.
“My wanderings.” This word gives weight to David’s affliction. He was not living in settled ease. Though anointed king, he was often forced to flee, hide, escape, and dwell among strangers. He departed from Saul’s presence after Saul sought to smite him with a javelin (1 Samuel 19:10). He fled to Nob and then to Gath (1 Samuel 21:1,10). He escaped to the cave Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1). He abode in the wilderness in strong holds while Saul hunted him (1 Samuel 23:14). These were not aimless travels for pleasure. They were the wanderings of a servant of God under pressure.
Yet David says, “Thou tellest.” This is comfort. The LORD does not overlook the unsettled path of His servants. He counted Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 14:33-34). He led them through the great and terrible wilderness, where there were fiery serpents, scorpions, drought, and no water (Deuteronomy 8:15). He knew Elijah under the juniper tree when the prophet asked to die (1 Kings 19:4-8). The same God knew David’s steps in Gath. No cave, road, wilderness, foreign court, lonely night, or fearful escape was hidden from Him.
“Put thou my tears into thy bottle.” David now moves from his steps to his sorrows. God counted his wanderings; David asks Him to preserve his tears. This is a figure suited to our understanding. God is a Spirit and has no need of a literal bottle (John 4:24). The heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him (1 Kings 8:27). But the figure teaches that David’s tears were precious, noticed, remembered, and not wasted before God. Men may despise tears as weakness, but God does not despise the broken heart of His servant (Psalm 51:17).
“My tears.” David does not pretend to be untouched by fear and grief. The mighty warrior wept. The man who faced Goliath also shed tears before God (1 Samuel 17:45-50). This does not dishonor faith. Psalm 56:3 already taught that fear may arise and must be met with trust. Verse 8 shows that tears may fall and must be carried to God. Faith is not a hard face without feeling. Faith brings fear, grief, and tears before Jehovah.
The Bible gives many examples of tears regarded by God. Hezekiah wept sore when death was announced to him, and the LORD sent Isaiah back with this word: “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears” (2 Kings 20:3-5). Israel sighed and cried by reason of bondage in Egypt, and God heard their groaning, remembered His covenant, looked upon them, and had respect unto them (Exodus 2:23-25). The Lord Jesus Christ Himself offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death (Hebrews 5:7). Tears brought to God are not ignored by God.
“Into thy bottle.” The tenderness of this figure should not be missed. David does not say, Let my tears fall into the dust and vanish. He asks that they be put into God’s bottle. Men may forget the sorrows of others quickly. Enemies may mock tears. Friends may fail to understand them. But Jehovah treasures the grief of His servants in His own remembrance. The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles (Psalm 34:17). He is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18).
“Are they not in thy book?” David’s question expects the answer, Yes. His tears are in God’s book. Scripture often speaks of God’s book to describe His perfect knowledge, remembrance, record, and judgment. Moses spoke of God’s book when pleading for Israel after their sin with the golden calf (Exodus 32:32-33). Malachi wrote that a book of remembrance was written before the LORD for them that feared Him and thought upon His name (Malachi 3:16). God needs no written record to strengthen His memory, for all things are naked and opened unto His eyes (Hebrews 4:13). The language assures the believer that nothing is overlooked, lost, or forgotten before Jehovah.
This question also corrects the despair that says, No one sees. God sees. No one cares. God cares. No one remembers. God remembers. David’s enemies wrested his words, watched his steps, gathered themselves together, and hid themselves against him (vv.5-6). But God had His own record. Their malice was seen, and David’s tears were seen. Their steps were marked, and David’s wanderings were marked. The Judge of all the earth does not confuse the oppressor with the oppressed (Genesis 18:25).
This verse gives great comfort to afflicted saints. Your wanderings may be many: changes you did not choose, losses you did not expect, burdens you cannot explain, places of loneliness, seasons of fear, and paths that seem to make no sense. Yet the LORD tells (counts) them. Your tears may be hidden from men, shed in private, or misunderstood by those nearest you. Yet the LORD keeps them. The believer is never a stray particle in a careless world. He is under the eye, hand, and remembrance of Jehovah.
This comfort must not produce self-pity, but faith. David does not use his tears to accuse God. He uses them to trust God. He had already resolved, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (v.3). He will soon say, “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me” (v.11). Tears are safe when they lead the soul to trust, prayer, and obedience. Tears become dangerous when they turn into bitterness, unbelief, or rebellion. David’s tears are put before God, not against God.
This verse also points to the perfect tenderness of God toward His people in Christ. The Lord Jesus entered the sorrows of His people without sin. He wept at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35). He wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). He cried with strong crying and tears in the days of His flesh (Hebrews 5:7). Therefore, the believer has a merciful and faithful High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). The God who records tears has given His Son, who shed tears.
Psalm 56:8 therefore teaches that no step and no sorrow of God’s servant is lost. David may be in Gath, afraid, watched, hunted, and forced to wander, but he is not forgotten. His wanderings are counted. His tears are treasured. His grief is recorded. Let the afflicted believer trust Jehovah with both his path and his pain. The LORD who tells the wanderings of His servants and keeps their tears in His book will not fail them in the hour of fear.
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
Psalm 56 is David’s prayer when he was taken by the Philistines in Gath. The danger was real. He had fled from Saul and entered the territory of the Philistines, where men recognized him as the warrior of Israel and said, “Is not this David the king of the land?” (1 Samuel 21:10-11). David “laid up these words in his heart” and was “sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath” (1 Samuel 21:12). Yet faith answered fear: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (v.3). Verse 8 now gives one of the tenderest reasons for that trust. God knew every step of David’s wandering and every tear of his sorrow.
“Thou tellest my wanderings.” To “tell” here is to count, number, mark, and take account. David was not lost in the wilderness of providence. Men saw a fugitive moving from place to place, but God counted every movement. He knew David’s flight from Saul, his danger among the Philistines, his loneliness, his hiding, his displacement, his uncertainty, and his returnings. Saul sought David every day, but God delivered him not into his hand (1 Samuel 23:14). David wandered, but not outside Jehovah’s knowledge.
“My wanderings.” This word gives weight to David’s affliction. He was not living in settled ease. Though anointed king, he was often forced to flee, hide, escape, and dwell among strangers. He departed from Saul’s presence after Saul sought to smite him with a javelin (1 Samuel 19:10). He fled to Nob and then to Gath (1 Samuel 21:1,10). He escaped to the cave Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1). He abode in the wilderness in strong holds while Saul hunted him (1 Samuel 23:14). These were not aimless travels for pleasure. They were the wanderings of a servant of God under pressure.
Yet David says, “Thou tellest.” This is comfort. The LORD does not overlook the unsettled path of His servants. He counted Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 14:33-34). He led them through the great and terrible wilderness, where there were fiery serpents, scorpions, drought, and no water (Deuteronomy 8:15). He knew Elijah under the juniper tree when the prophet asked to die (1 Kings 19:4-8). The same God knew David’s steps in Gath. No cave, road, wilderness, foreign court, lonely night, or fearful escape was hidden from Him.
“Put thou my tears into thy bottle.” David now moves from his steps to his sorrows. God counted his wanderings; David asks Him to preserve his tears. This is a figure suited to our understanding. God is a Spirit and has no need of a literal bottle (John 4:24). The heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him (1 Kings 8:27). But the figure teaches that David’s tears were precious, noticed, remembered, and not wasted before God. Men may despise tears as weakness, but God does not despise the broken heart of His servant (Psalm 51:17).
“My tears.” David does not pretend to be untouched by fear and grief. The mighty warrior wept. The man who faced Goliath also shed tears before God (1 Samuel 17:45-50). This does not dishonor faith. Psalm 56:3 already taught that fear may arise and must be met with trust. Verse 8 shows that tears may fall and must be carried to God. Faith is not a hard face without feeling. Faith brings fear, grief, and tears before Jehovah.
The Bible gives many examples of tears regarded by God. Hezekiah wept sore when death was announced to him, and the LORD sent Isaiah back with this word: “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears” (2 Kings 20:3-5). Israel sighed and cried by reason of bondage in Egypt, and God heard their groaning, remembered His covenant, looked upon them, and had respect unto them (Exodus 2:23-25). The Lord Jesus Christ Himself offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death (Hebrews 5:7). Tears brought to God are not ignored by God.
“Into thy bottle.” The tenderness of this figure should not be missed. David does not say, Let my tears fall into the dust and vanish. He asks that they be put into God’s bottle. Men may forget the sorrows of others quickly. Enemies may mock tears. Friends may fail to understand them. But Jehovah treasures the grief of His servants in His own remembrance. The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles (Psalm 34:17). He is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18).
“Are they not in thy book?” David’s question expects the answer, Yes. His tears are in God’s book. Scripture often speaks of God’s book to describe His perfect knowledge, remembrance, record, and judgment. Moses spoke of God’s book when pleading for Israel after their sin with the golden calf (Exodus 32:32-33). Malachi wrote that a book of remembrance was written before the LORD for them that feared Him and thought upon His name (Malachi 3:16). God needs no written record to strengthen His memory, for all things are naked and opened unto His eyes (Hebrews 4:13). The language assures the believer that nothing is overlooked, lost, or forgotten before Jehovah.
This question also corrects the despair that says, No one sees. God sees. No one cares. God cares. No one remembers. God remembers. David’s enemies wrested his words, watched his steps, gathered themselves together, and hid themselves against him (vv.5-6). But God had His own record. Their malice was seen, and David’s tears were seen. Their steps were marked, and David’s wanderings were marked. The Judge of all the earth does not confuse the oppressor with the oppressed (Genesis 18:25).
This verse gives great comfort to afflicted saints. Your wanderings may be many: changes you did not choose, losses you did not expect, burdens you cannot explain, places of loneliness, seasons of fear, and paths that seem to make no sense. Yet the LORD tells (counts) them. Your tears may be hidden from men, shed in private, or misunderstood by those nearest you. Yet the LORD keeps them. The believer is never a stray particle in a careless world. He is under the eye, hand, and remembrance of Jehovah.
This comfort must not produce self-pity, but faith. David does not use his tears to accuse God. He uses them to trust God. He had already resolved, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (v.3). He will soon say, “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me” (v.11). Tears are safe when they lead the soul to trust, prayer, and obedience. Tears become dangerous when they turn into bitterness, unbelief, or rebellion. David’s tears are put before God, not against God.
This verse also points to the perfect tenderness of God toward His people in Christ. The Lord Jesus entered the sorrows of His people without sin. He wept at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35). He wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). He cried with strong crying and tears in the days of His flesh (Hebrews 5:7). Therefore, the believer has a merciful and faithful High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). The God who records tears has given His Son, who shed tears.
Psalm 56:8 therefore teaches that no step and no sorrow of God’s servant is lost. David may be in Gath, afraid, watched, hunted, and forced to wander, but he is not forgotten. His wanderings are counted. His tears are treasured. His grief is recorded. Let the afflicted believer trust Jehovah with both his path and his pain. The LORD who tells the wanderings of His servants and keeps their tears in His book will not fail them in the hour of fear.