#DailyDevotion The LORD Keeps Your Tears, Your Troubles Are Precious To Him
Psalm 56 5All day long they cause me grief, thinking only to harm me. 6They start a fight and then hide. They watch where I go because they’re eager to kill me. 7With the wrong they do, can they escape? In Your anger, O God, put down the peoples.
David’s frustration with his enemies is clearly seen here. Not only does he have to deal with Saul and the Philistines, he has to deal with people who are loyal to those people or people who simply want to get ahead by betraying David. David had to flee from one place because someone reported to Saul that they saw him in one place or another.
Just as much as David refused to harm Saul because Saul was the LORD’s anointed, others should have not sought David’s life because he also was the LORD’s anointed, set apart to replace Saul at the proper time. So David prays the LORD in His anger not to let these people escape and to put down the peoples.
In similar fashion, Jesus likely prayed this psalm in the Garden of Gethsemane as He waited for Judas to betray Him and lead the soldiers to where Jesus was staying. When others are seeking us harm, we should not fear or be alarmed. We are joined with Jesus in baptism where we were anointed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus intercedes for us at the right hand of God this prayer. We may join Him in praying it.
8Write down how I have to flee; put my tears in Your water-skin –aren’t they in Your scroll?
David’s tears, Jesus’ tears, and our tears are kept by the LORD. They are precious to Him. Our trials and tribulations, the LORD has kept a record of them. He remembers those who cause us grief without cause. This should comfort us. They are not ignored by the Almighty.
9Then my enemies will have to turn back on the day I call; for this I know: God is with me.
David called on God. Jesus called out to the Father. We cry out to the Father in Jesus’ name. Our enemies will eventually be turned back. God is with us. Emmanuel! Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us! He promises at the end of Matthew, He is with us until the end of the ages. Hebrews reminds us, “He will never leave us or forsake us.”
10In God — I praise His Word —In the LORD — I praise His Word — 11In God I trust — I’m not afraid; what can man do to me? 12I’m under vows to You, O God; I will carry them out by praising You. 13You have rescued me from death, and kept my foot from stumbling, that I might walk before God in the light of the living.
This refrain is taken up again. We should join David in praying this. We should join him in praising the Word, Jesus, the Son of God. We praise Him in the LORD. Trusting in His promises we can say, “I’m not afraid; what can man do to me?” We remember Jesus’ warning not to fear those who can only harm the flesh but to fear (worship) the One who can kill the soul. In confirmation we take a vow to never fall from the faith. Let us praise the LORD. We can tell how He has rescued us from sin, death and the power of the devil by His innocent suffering and death and of His resurrection from the dead. We have Jesus’ promise of perseverance and of the resurrection to eternal life on the Last Day. There we shall walk in the light of the living before God in the New Jerusalem. We will live forever in the light of the Father and the Son in that new creation.
Heavenly Father, look down upon our misery, put our tears in your bottle, and remember us always for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ. Raise us to eternal life on the Last Day and bring us into Your eternal kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.