Priceless Teary Prayers

Psalm 56: 8

Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?

Tears refer to all our sorrows, our weakness, our troubles, our hurting, our wounds. It was a common practice in Israel to bottle up all the tears! I can't even imagine how many bottles I'd need if I practiced that! I believe that something, which brings tears to one person, may not be such a great deal to the other. Each person has different burdens to carry. For some, even the smallest reasons might induce tears and others may be very good at controlling their emotions even when they go through a great deal of suffering. Whatever it is, there would be a time definitely, when we cry, internally or externally, because of our sorrows.

         What do we do when we go through such weeping valleys? Where there is no hope, no peace but only tears? As the psalmist, there is only one place where those tears are treated as precious - in the presence of God! God alone knows the value of every single tear drop, the pain and agony behind every sigh and the weight and burden of a broken heart! A lot of times, in spite of our pain, we'd have witnessed people ridicule us for our tears, and despise us for our weakness. Let's be reminded that one of the strongest and bravest King who killed a lion and a bear even as a child says "I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears" (Psalm 6:6). We can be assured that we have a God, who is so loving, that HE'S ready to receive us with an embrace when we run to HIM with tears even if we had rebelled against HIM most of the other times. Psalm 51:17 says "A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise". I remember, when I was in my childhood, one day I ran to my dad with tears carrying my leaky bottle, as my brand new water bottle (Which I was so much delighted about) was broken, and I can't forget to this day, how my dad lovingly received me (and he never thought it was such a petty reason to cry or to come to him for help!) and consoled me. That's how our God, our heavenly Father is - without questions - HE is ready to receive us warmly – no matter how petty our reasons for tears be. God's love is the purest and that's why HE understands our pain and gave up HIS own Son to die on the cross - to redeem us from all evil and pain and to bring us all back into HIS loving presence! So awesome is our God, the God we worship, the God we serve!

 It is very common to see people who run after mortals to share their story of pain and sorrow - to feel relieved that there is someone who is ready to listen to their tragic story. But what they do not know is – more often, it falls either on deaf ears (who care about nothing) or people with hypocritical hearts who would simply enjoy hearing their miseries on the inside but would try best to make up a sad face in front of them! What we ought to do is cast all our burdens on HIM, who understands our pain and truly (I mean 100% truly) cares for us and proves HIS love in so many ways. The tears have to be poured at the right place - in the presence of God - Who knows the price of our tears and treasures it. God alone can heal the pain of a broken heart and bring joy and happiness into our sorrowful life. God cannot bear to see HIS children in pain and agony - HE answers their cries by making all the required arrangements and sometimes gets ready for performing miracles! Some biblical examples - Hannah poured out her sorrow at the temple and God answered her prayers by gifting one of the greatest prophets (Samuel) as her son. The children of Israel cried out in pain because of their slavery and God answered them with a wonderful deliverer - Moses! Jacob cried so bitterly for he had lost his beloved son and God answered it by making him see his son as the greatest Prince who saved the world from famine! Jabez, who was named as "pain" cried out to God and God made him prosperous! So we see that tears in the presence of God have so much more potential for not just mere deliverance but for amazing wonders and miracles! God uses the teary prayers to open doors to great miracles that bless not only an affected individual who made the prayer but also millions of people around - just like how Samuel, Moses and Joseph were a blessing to many and not just Hannah, Moses's parents or Jacob.

So let us offer our tears to God, who is the only true and best friend one could ever have - and HE can turn every drop of our tears into a beautiful miracle that would be a blessing to many!