You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book? (Psalm 56:8)
David experienced some rough times. He was betrayed. He had enemies. He experienced a lot of unsettled time both before, and during, his kingship.
In this psalm, he has enemies coming at him from every direction. King Saul, in Israel, is hunting him like a wild animal. He has fled the country and ends up in the hands of the Philistines. They know who he is, and that he the prophet Samuel had him anointed king of Israel. They are enemies of Israel, so they are feeling pretty good having him in custody. David says in the psalm they are trampling him, oppressing him, and attacking him openly. Fearing for his life, David does the only thing he can think of in the moment, he pretends to have lost his mind.
And David…was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. (1 Samuel 21:12-13)
They twist his words publicly to discredit him. They are constantly thinking of new ways to ruin him. They stir up public opinion against him. They watch his every move looking to find him out, to catch him in the act.
Can you imagine? God chose you and anointed you as the next king of the nation. But the current king, whom you have served loyally, has put a price on your head. You flee the country only to be captured by enemies who are delighted to have you in their hands, and you resort to playing the mad man, letting your spittle run down your face. Can you imagine?
What a situation! Yet David continues to trust in God. And he knows that God has not forsaken him, though it may appear so. But he knows that God cares about his situation enough that he has kept a count of the number of times David has tossed on his bed in the night. He has kept a record of every tear David shed when no one was looking. Not just kept a count, God has gathered those tears into a bottle as precious.
He does ask God to act to relieve his circumstances, but he knows that while things are bad, God is not without care and compassion. God counts every tear! That is more than we do, more than we could do. God knows our pain and sorrow better than we do ourselves!
And in the end,
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)
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