The idea that God collects our tears in a bottle is found in Psalm 56:8, which says “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” This poetic metaphor conveys the comforting message that God sees our pain, hears our cries, and keeps track of our suffering. He is not aloof or indifferent to the difficulties we face in life.
First, this verse indicates that God is aware of our troubles. The psalmist says that God has “kept count” of his tossings. The tossings refer to the restless tossing and turning of someone facing affliction. God knows about our sleepless nights, our anxieties, and our inner turmoil. He sees our struggles even when others do not.
Furthermore, God not only sees our tears but He collects and preserves them. In ancient times, mourners would actually catch their tears in a bottle as a sign of grief. God cherishes our tears so much that it is as if He gently catches each one before it falls and stores them away. Every tear is precious to Him.
Also, the verse says the tears are recorded in God’s “book.” This means He does not just observe our pain, He documents it. God cherishes our hurts so deeply that He keeps a detailed record of every single one. We are not just nameless sufferers to Him. He knows us intimately.
What is God’s purpose in collecting our tears? For one, it shows He cares about our individual pains. He does not see us as a faceless crowd but as individuals, each with distinct hurts. God also preserves our tears as evidence that we endured suffering during our time on earth. Someday He promises to wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4). Finally, God collects our tears because He intends to do something about them. He promises to right every wrong.
Psalm 56:8 also connects tears with prayers. The psalmist cried out to God during his affliction. God stores up prayers as well as tears, not forgetting a single one. When we entrust our pain to Him through prayer, He promises to answer us. Tears and prayers remind us to lean into God during trials rather than doubt His compassion.
Additionally, God collects tears in a bottle to reassure us that one day He will make things right. The tears remind Him of the cost of evil and suffering in this world. He hates injustice and does not take human pain lightly. God permits evil and suffering for a time, but He promises not to forget those who endure it. One day, He will act decisively and justly to punish evildoers and comfort those who mourn. He will answer every tear with perfect justice, reward, and comfort.
Though we will endure pain in this life, we can take heart knowing our tears do not go unnoticed by God. He treasures and records every tear because He loves us deeply. He promises to be close to us in our distress. One day He will repay us for every sorrow. When we cry out to God in prayer, we can trust that He hears and will answer. Though it may seem God is far away when we are hurting, Psalm 56:8 assures He is truly with us. Our pain is not invisible to Him.
Some key Bible verses about God collecting tears in a bottle:
Psalm 56:8 – “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”
Revelation 21:4 – “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.”
Psalm 139:1-4 – “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”
Psalm 142:3 – “When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.”
2 Timothy 1:3-4 – “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.”
Matthew 6:31-34 – “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Psalm 30:5 – “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
Luke 7:44-48 – “Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.’ And he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.'”
Psalm 9:9-10 – “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.”
Ecclesiastes 4:1 – “Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Psalm 34:17-18 – “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
Lamentations 2:11-12 – “My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, ‘Where is bread and wine?’ as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom.”
Psalm 6:6-7 – “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.”
Isaiah 25:8 – “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”
Psalm 31:9-10 – “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.”
Exodus 2:23-25 – “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”
Psalm 79:8 – “Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.”
Psalm 33:13-15 – “The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.”
Psalm 88:9 – “My eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you.”
Psalm 39:12 – “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.”
Luke 19:41 – “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it…”
2 Kings 20:5 – “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you.”
Job 16:20 – “My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God.”
Psalm 42:3 – “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?'”
Jeremiah 9:1 – “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!”
Mark 9:24 – “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!'”
Psalm 80:5 – “You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.”
Psalm 22:24 – “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.”
Psalm 139:16 – “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
2 Corinthians 7:6 – “But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus…”
Lamentations 1:2 – “She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.”
Revelation 7:17 – “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Psalm 56:8 teaches us that God deeply cares about our pain and distress. He treasures each tear because He loves us personally and knows our struggles intimately. We can take heart that God not only sees our tears but collects each one. He records them because our tears matter deeply to Him. God promises to answer them with perfect justice, reward, and eternal comfort in His presence, where He will wipe away every tear forever.