God was never taken by surprise when humanity fell short of the glorious life He planned for them. Has it ever occurred to you that the ability to cry is a strange thing? For tears to fall on our cheeks, and for this to be cathartic, part of our healing, there must have always been this provision in how we are made. Before there was ever any sin, there was the capacity for tears.
There is a day when God promises He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. But for now, while we walk through this earthly life, there are tears. Some people find it hard to cry. They have been taught that it’s not strong, or they have learnt that they can get more done if they can hold it in. As I have journeyed with Christ, I discover that my tears are healthier and fall both more freely and dry more quickly the more I journey with Him.
There is an incredible Scripture found in the song book of eternity, Psalms. It says that the Lord collects our tears in His bottle. The other day I was thinking about this and I realised that in order for Him to collect them in His bottle, we can’t bottle them up. If we bottle up our griefs and never cry them out to Him and others, there are no tears for Him to collect. In order for Him to collect them, we must release them, and we must do that specifically with an awareness of Him – even if it feels He must be distant. In my experience, it’s often then that I know He has come close.
Why is He collecting our tears in His bottle? In the movie, The Shack, God’s response to this question is ‘We all collect things we value, don’t we?’ In the story we see Sarayu, who personifies the Holy Spirit, use the tears she has collected to water the ground of the human character’s life. He collects instead of wasting. We see this trait in the heart of Jesus when all the leftover broken pieces of food are collected after He has fed the 5,000 and 4,000. In a way, it is strange that the One who has unlimited resources would take such care to collect what would easily fall to the ground and be wasted. But it is perhaps His value for what is broken.
Have you let Him collect your tears in His bottle? Are you aware of how He is watering your life with them?
Adventures with God 
Love the message. I don’t understand why our British culture generally struggles with crying or why we tend to think that tears are shed only relating to sadness. God collects our tears of joy in his bottle and holds the reasons for such powerful emotions so close to his heart. Shed tears say we care, we love, we’re relieved, grateful, thankful and so much more.
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This is a very helpful reflection on our tears, Jonathan. Thank you. We pray that the Lord will guide you through to your next stage in your journey with Him. We had a very special time with your Mum & Dad and Philip whilst we were staying in the area. God bless, Norman & June
Virus-free. http://www.avg.com
On Thu, 8 Jul 2021 at 19:14, Adventures with God wrote:
> jonnydaviesadventures posted: ” God was never taken by surprise when > humanity fell short of the glorious life He planned for them. Has it ever > occurred to you that the ability to cry is a strange thing? For tears to > fall on our cheeks, and for this to be cathartic, part of our heal” >
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