Context No. 2586 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 56:1-13: in context

1Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long, he attacks and oppresses me. 2My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me. 3When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. 4In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? 5All day long they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. 6They conspire and lurk, watching my steps. They are eager to take my life. 7Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, God. 8You count my wanderings. You put my tears into your container. Aren’t they in your book? 9Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this: that God is for me. 10In God, I will praise his word. In the LORD, I will praise his word. 11I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 12Your vows are on me, God. I will give thank offerings to you. 13For you have delivered my soul from death, and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

David prays while enemies hound him all day long, trampling and twisting his words, watching his every step. His refrain is defiant trust: when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you; in God I trust, I will not be afraid, what can flesh do to me? And in the middle of it comes a tender image in the Psalms: you have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle; are they not in your book?

That is an astonishing thing to believe about God. Every sleepless turning, every tear cried in the dark, is not lost or ignored; God keeps count of them, collects them, records them in his book. My grief does not evaporate unnoticed. It is treasured by the One who sees it, gathered like something precious. Alongside this, David says plainly, this I know: God is for me. The two belong together. Because God is for me, my tears are not wasted on an indifferent sky; they are caught and kept by a Father who is on my side. Fear gives way not to bravado but to being known and held.

Do I believe God keeps count of my sorrows and treasures my tears, and that he is for me, or do I imagine my grief goes unnoticed?

Sources

Psalm 56:8: You count my wanderings. You put my tears into your container. Aren't they in your book?
Psalm 56:3: When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
Psalm 56:9: Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this: that God is for me.