This I know: that God is for me

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. --Psalm 56:3

When you think of a gift registry, you usually think of baby showers or bridal shows.  More recently, however, those with more practical sensibilities are able to find gift registries at hardware stores and home improvement warehouses.  The thinking is that in setting up a home, you need more than candles and throw pillows, more than dishes and cookware.  You may need some light fixtures or ceiling fans to renovate your new home.  You may even need some basic tools--items you may not be able to borrow from Dad any more.

In Psalm 56, David seems to indicate that God has an even more basic registry:  He registers our tears.  He keeps account of every one.  They are written in a book.  I imagine that there are as many categories in His tear registry as there are reasons to cry.  Tears for mourning.  Tears of joy.  Tears of sorrow.  Tears of remorse.  The list goes on and on, yet God knows the reason for each one.  Verse eight says He collects them in a bottle, or a skin (before glass was in wide use, people would keep water or other liquids in animal skins, sewn together with an opening like a canteen.  You may recall Jesus making an allegory about wineskins--same thing.)

Several Bible translations change the wording in the beginning of the verse to correspond with their interpretation of the latter part.  Instead of "wanderings", they substitute the term "Sorrows" or "Misery", as if that is the only reason people shed tears.  Other translations use the word "tossings", as if one is having a nightmare or maybe losing sleep.  According to Strong's Concordance, however, the correct word is "wanderings", as in wandering in exile, or the nomadic wanderings of a fugitive.

In context, David is speaking of the trials and tribulations he suffered before he became king of Israel. He began as a shepherd, wanding the hills of Judea looking for pastureland.  He was anointed by Samuel, yet was hunted relentlessly by Saul, who wanted to kill him.  David and his men lived in caves, hid in the mountains, and even crossed the border into Philistine territory.  His exile before reaching his destiny on the throne is a pre-cursor to the ministry of Jesus, who lived in a kind of exile from the Pharisees who sought his life.  And it could apply to us, as we are pilgrims in a land not ours, seeking heaven's shores.

In a broader sense, the term "wanderings" conjures images of the children of Israel, whom Moses brought out of Egypt.  Because of their lack of faith, God let them wander in the wilderness for forty years--an entire generation--before allowing them into the Promised Land.

More specific to my life, I sometimes feel like I am wandering aimlessly about, wondering why God has not given clearer direction.  There are some times I can identify with the parable of the Prodigal Son; in that case, my wandering is of my own doing, having nothing to do with God or His will for my life.  You may have your own ideas of what the word "wanderings" means to you.  

Through it all, God is keeping track.  According to Psalm 56:8, He keeps an account of our wanderings, whether we are faithful to Him or not.  He collects our tears, and catalogs them in a book.  He is intimately aware of our comings and goings, of our thoughts and emotions, of our joys and fears.  See, many of us have an idea that God is transcendent; that is, He is far away looking down on us from heaven's lofty heights.  If heaven is a physical place, it is in a parallel universe that is inaccessible to us.  If heaven is inaccessible, then so is God.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, note what He said:  "When you pray, pray like this: Our Father who is in heaven."  The word He used for "Father" is Abba, a very intimate word for "Daddy".  It is the first word spoken by many children in countries that still speak Hebrew or Arabic.  That familiarity, that closeness, is what theologians mean when they say God is imanent.  He is here, He is with us, He is for us.  At the same time, yes, He is in Heaven, transcendent and apart from us in holiness and majesty.  He is both.

That is why, I think, that David wrote in verse 9, "This I know, that God is for me."  If He is transcendent (and He is)--far above us, holy, unapproachable in splendor--yet takes the time to know us so intimately as to keep a catalog of our tears, registered in a book so that when we do arrive in our heavenly home He comforts us with a comfort that is tailored to our specific profile that no one else knows about us, then that says a great deal about Him.  Think about it.  No one knows us like the One who made us.

Revelation 7:17 gives us this promise:  "For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepheard, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."