Keeping It All Bottled Up – Part 2

God places all the tears we have wept in a special place…  

In a bottle and a book. (Psalm 56:8)

Every tear that we have shed has been saved up.

The ancients who lived in David’s time, had a practice of putting tears which were shed for someone who had died, into a little bottle called lacrymatories.

(lah-krim-ah-torrie)And when they buried their deceased loved one they would place these lacrymatories or ‘bottles of tears’ inside the tomb. The ancients believed this practice actually helped begin the healing process of losing a loved one.

Archeologists who have unearthed ancient graves, commonly come across these ‘tear bottles’ inside the tomb, indicating it was widely practiced in ancient times.This noun Lachrymatory, pronounced læ-‘kree-mê-tor-ee, (also the root of our word crematory).

It comes down through the ages by way of the Latin word ‘dacrima,’ which shares ties with the Greek term dakry for tear, a distant relation to Old High German zahar also meaning ‘tear’, which fashioned the modern German Zähre for ‘tear’, and Old English tæhher which is nowadays, ‘tear.’

These little bottles were made of glass, pottery, agate, sardonyx, or hard baked clay.

The word here rendered ‘bottle’ means a bottle made of skin, such as was used in the East; but it can also mean a bottle of any kind.

Our tears are precious to the Lord, and He is aware of each tear we shed.

Most of our emotions are connected in some way to our crying liquid tears as well as to the physical cavity of the eye itself helping it to stay moist so we can see.There are 3 types of physical tears produced by our bodies:

First the basal variety, which are made as a form of lubrication and protection for your eyes.

These are constantly secreted in tiny quantities (about one gram over a 24-hour period) and coat our eyes when we blink, yawn or water from a dry climate.

This is what a basal tear looks like under a microscope(Above watering eyes in a micro climate)(Above: yawning from exhaustion tears)

There are biological and physiological components that initiate tears from the tear duct, for the purpose of cleansing and washing the eye.It’s a built in automatic window wash!

Second type we produce are reflex tears.(Above: Tears in response to cutting up onions.)

These are also for protection and are released to help wash away particles in response to irritants, such as wind, dust, smoke, cutting onions or that wayward eyelash. (Greater magnification of above.)

The third type of tears – emotional tears.
These tears contain more protein-based hormones than basal or reflex tears. Our tears, no matter what the form, are a combination of salt water, oils, antibodies, and enzymes.Studies have revealed the scientific basis of tears, and show how weeping and mourning tie into the deepest regions of our brains. The seat of the Soul is also believed to be in the same area of the brain.

Tears are intrinsically connected to emotion. There is a whole process that we go through starting at the time of tearing up, yet each one looks vastly different when examined under a microscope.(Above: tears from laughing until we are crying.)Laugh till we cry,frustration,anger,sadnessand griefloneliness

paindepression love reliefexcitementhappinesssuccessecstatic joy

– Seems like every one of the above list could evoke a tearful reaction…

(Above: tears of ending and beginning.)Not all tears are alike; and each person’s tears are unique to them, just as our DNA, fingerprints and retina scan are.(Above: tears of elation at a liminal moment.)

Tears cover the totality of all of our lifes’ experiences

Does a tear of grief look any different from a tear of joy?

Yes!

Each tear is different: when you cry based on the underlying emotion it produces different chemicals which show up in the tear drop. (Above: tears of change.)

Each tear contains the emotion and the pain and hurt caused by an outside influence often through words or actions of others or a physical trauma to the body.
(Reference: Joseph Strondberg.   Emotional Components of the Tear.)

 Interesting Note: The work of the late Dr. Masaru Emoto, a visionary researcher from Japan, studied the impact of human consciousness on water and its crystalline order.Water that was imprinted by love, gratitude, and appreciation responded by the development of complex beauty,

and

water that was mistreated by negative intentions became disordered and lost its magnificent patterning.

Perhaps something similar occurs in our tears?…It’s known, for instance, that tears contain unique substances depending on their cause.If that is the case for water outside a physical body, how much more could the water that is part of us be affected?

Each human body comprises 50-70% water.

Emotional tears, for instance, contain leucine-enkephalin, a natural painkiller your body releases in response to stress.

 The Black and White Photographs in this post can be found in the public domain on www “Topography of Tears,” (photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher of ‘The microscopic structure of dried tears’.)
Tears are the medium of our most primal language communicating from birth to death, hunger and everything in between.

Tears cover the totality of all of our life’s experiences.(Above: tears of remembrance.)

Each tear will carry a composite of the events of a human life amounting to one drop of the oceans expanse.

Crying is to the emotions within the soul, what soap is to the body, it truly a cleansing thing.

It contains all that is ours as is represented in our DNA, so no wonder He keeps our tears.

It’s a unique record of each of us.

The shortest sentence in the new Testament speaks of Messiah’s tears:

John 11:35

Va•yivch Yeshua.

 Yeshua wept

However when Jesus wept wept in the garden of Gethsemane, the sum total of all the tears shed by humanity on the whole planet, from the Genesis in Eden to the completion of time in the future at the end of the age. They were being borne in His body when He shed His tears for every soul, prior to the shedding of His blood on Calvary’s cross.

Jesus who as the Son of God, bore all the tears for the sins committed by and to mankind.First came the water and then the blood.   Heb. 5:5-9 

The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us of, ‘His strong crying and tears.’ These are tears which we cannot fully understand; but they were tears for the sins of the world, the weight of which in that most mysterious agony He was then bearing.There is no telling just how many tears have been shed throughout history, yet all our tears, the sum total of human existence was put on the cross.

Untold multiplied billions of tears were covered that day by the blood of Jesus. Each tear we shed has a purpose.  Tears are unique to each one of us and they are designed to give us comfort when we our souls are overwhelmed with emotion and conflict.All our perceptions and all our lives experiences are contained within the tears of failure, joy, etc., and every human emotion we have experienced in our lives; good, bad, or indifferent.

It changes when we come to know Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, because He changes us from within.(Above: tears of momentum)

Tears of agony, rejection and defeat are changed into tears of relief, acceptance and hope.(Above: tears of possibility and hope)

There is coming a time for all righteous believers when God will wipe away the tears for ever.  They are poured out upon his altar as a one-time offering to God.

(Its an interesting thought that it in some way it could be connected to the water libation performed during the Fall Appointed Times?!)

In Isaiah 53, when Jesus/Yeshua, bore our griefs and sorrows, every emotion, and every response since the time of Adam and Eve. All our life’s experiences, that is what Jesus took upon Himself. That is when He wept and why that statement is so powerful.

Our emotional hurt often isn’t our own fault, but rather caused by the wrong-doing of others.Weeping actually brings a healing power to those who have been wronged and helps us heal emotionally.

One day for some of us our need for tears will come to an end –

O Lord my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me. Ps 30:3

Adonai Elo•hai shi•va•ati e•le•cha va•tir•pa•eni.

 

He Knows!

A  vast receptacle, brimming over with our weeping.

However… 

One day our need for tears will come to an end –

A new day is dawning.

A new beginning is coming.

A new joy is arising in our hearts, because His Word declares that although

One day God will wipe away every one of those tears and there will be no more crying.   Revelation 21:4

He will replace all our tears of sorrow with pure joy because ALL the OUTWARD causes of TEARS will be absent.Never again will we shed a tear over losing a loved one or a beloved family pet;

or weep by the casket or graveside of a departed family member;

 or shed a tear for a departed loved one or friend, for these are the former things of this life that will pass away.(Tragedy: tears of awe and sorrow)

Never again will we hear tragic news(Above: tears for what could not be fixed.)or see a flag-draped casket of a soldier who lost his life in a war.(Above: tears of Grief.)

Never again will we experience any physical pain, for God is going to ‘wipe away all of our tears’, that were caused by the outward things in this life.
God will wipe away all the INWARD causes of tears.

There will be no more tears of LONELINESS.DEPRESSION.FRUSTRATION.GUILT and SHAME.

No more tears of Remorse(Above: tears of Remorse.)

or DISAPPOINTMENT.(Above: tears of those who yearn for liberation)

(Above: Tears of timeless reunion.)

All there will be in the Presence of the King of Kings, the Creator of the universe isJoy unspeakable and full of glory as the everlasting arms are wrapped around us..

Rejoice, mending broken hearts is His forte.Jesus quoted and said that He came to bind up the broken hearted and only God is able to do such a thing.

And sadness and sighing will flee away leaving only happy smiles!Joy WorshipReliefLoveHappinessAcceptanceSecurity

On a lighter note as the scriptures say, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine; so here is a small dose…

Sometimes holding back the laughter is too muchand the tears fill our eyes

…sometimesor in Lucy’s case both together!

Whatever our situation in life’s journey lets never forget…

God keeps it all bottled up so we don’t have to!When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry..show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile  because SHALOM!

Keeping It All Bottled up-Part 1

We are familiar with the Book Of Life where the name of every redeemed soul is recorded.     However the scripture records that God also has a book/scroll of remembrance

Malachi speaks of a book or scroll of remembrance written in the presence of God, a record of the words spoken by those who feared the Lord.

Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon and esteemed his name.

Az nid•be•roo yir•ey Adonai eesh el-re•e•hoo va•yak•shev Adonai va•yish•ma va•yi•ka•tev se•fer zi•ka•ron le•fa•nav le•yir•ey Adonai ool•chosh•vei sh`mo.

David cries out to God in the Psalm 56:8,

“put my tears in your bottle” and then declares “are they not in your book?”

He asked that his tears be kept in Heaven’s permanent record.

Psalms 56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book? “Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record?”

No•di sa•far•ta ata si•ma dim•ati v`no•de•cha ha•lo be•sif•ra•te•cha.

God has a book of remembrance that tells of our wanderings, our tears and sufferings. Is this book the same one from Malachi, or yet a different book kept by Adonai?

Everything that people are doing in speaking, communing together in their love for God is chronicled. Everything about us is recorded. (Psalms 139:14-16)Either way, God keeps books full of our life’s stories…the costly victories won in the secret place, the sorrows and pains endured in silence, the joys celebrated in God’s presence, all are witnessed and forever recorded.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
 all the days ordained for me were written in your book
 before one of them came to be. (psalm 139:16)

Rom 12:15. Sim•choo eem-has•me•chim oov•choo eem-ha•bo•chim.

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

דמעות Tears Dim-ati   D-M-A/B-KH-HTears of joy are the sunbeams piercing the soft and gentle rain drops of refreshing summer showers.

Bottle – בקבוק (pronounced bahk-book) 

My tears in Your bottle.There are several Hebrew words related to the act of weeping. These range from (bekhi), crying, to (dema’ot), tears, with several interposed onomatopoetic words that imitate the sound of crying: for example, (yevava), (yelala), and, accompanied by a sigh, (nehi).Tears cleanse the eye and also the soul.

For his anger lasts but a moment; in his favor is life; weeping..

Tears may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning Ps 30:5

Ki re•ga be•a•po cha•yim bir•tzo•no ba•erev ya•lin be•chi ve•la•bo•ker ri•na.

Even those who maintain their life is without many problems, have experienced times of great sadness, loss of a loved family member or friend, to all four legged ones with whom we share our lives. Death is a great physical separator, but in Him it is only the doorway to eternity into His presence, to be with Him and the scriptures say we shall be like Him. 

We all cry tears, they are an integral attribute of being human. After nine months it’s our first response to leaving the womb. Tears bring forth life, crying doesn’t indicate that you are weak because since birth it has always been a sign that you are alive.A first dramatic and traumatic transition from darkness into light and it kick starts our bodies to begin doing things on our own, like breathing. The act of crying fills our lungs with air and our life in this realm begins.the first of many tears we would shed over the course of our lifetime.Scripture has plenty to say about tearsThe Lord SEES Our Every Tear All of the passages in scripture teach us this one very important truth and that is, we have never shed a tear that GOD didn’t see.

God has seen every tear we shed…on our pillow at night and every tear we have cried behind closed doors…when hurtful or hateful words were spoken to us and crushed our spirit…when someone has betrayed us or trampled all over our heart…

when our loved one died, and every tear we have shed since then when we think of them…when we have miserably failed and lost all hope in ourselves…every tear we have shed over a wayward son or daughter who has gone astray…

God has put our tears in His bottle and recorded them in His book.

Ruth Bell Graham, the late wife of Billy Graham, once said…… “In every pew sits a broken heart.” It would seem that there’s a lot of truth in that statement. 

To every bruised and broken heart reading this today, realize God has put your tears in His bottle and recorded them in His book. 

He knows each and every one…

and His promise to each of us is that “weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”Why would He keep our tears in a bottle and record them in His book if they were not precious to Him?

In recent years, science has proved that each tear contains our unique DNA, they represent the sum total of our lives. They are in a sense, a liquid record of our existence and emotional experiences.In the bottle, is all our pain and joy etc. combined, it is each one of us and our whole lives.

That’s why He keeps them.

He promises that one day, there will be no more tears or crying. Then we will be complete in Him and the human emotions will be matured into those of who He IS, and those emotions will no longer be required for a life in eternity with Him.The most painful tears are not the ones that fall from your eyes and cover your face, they are the ones that come from your heart and overwhelmingly envelope your soul. They are the components of the ‘bricks’ with which we build the protective wall around our hearts and the fabric of the shell into which we crawl in order to prevent any further hurt.Many times, crying is the only way that we can speak, when our mouths can’t explain how things broke our heart; when our eyes release tears, they are the words the heart is unable to form or utter.Sometimes we feel like crying for no apparent reason and it’s often to make up for the days we suppressed our tears of sorrow and hurt.Rain falls because the clouds can no longer handle the weight. There comes a tipping point of overflow when their contents can no longer be contained in the same way, our tears fall because the heart can no longer handle the pain.Anyone can make you smile, many people can make you cry,
 but it takes someone really special to make you smile with tears in your eyes.Tears are good! What flows is alive. Crying is like a thunderstorm for the soul, the air feels so wonderful after the rain. Your tears herald a change in your life like the summer rain and they wash away the pain

Tears are like prayers too, they travel to God when we have no words to communicate. Psalm 56:8
A forensics expert explained that when they chemically tested the tears from people who lost loved ones from natural causes, accidents and suicide; those tears showed to contain poison when analyzed in a chemical reaction.

As believers, when we hear that, we think about Jesus crying and realize the enormity of what was contained in His tears in the Garden of Gethsemane. The mental anguish of the extreme stress of the combined sins of the whole world were upon Him. Esau sought with Bitter tears …the poison is in the bitterness. Hebrews 12:15-17 and there are warnings about the root of bitterness in Deut. 29:18 and Lamemtations 3:15,19

Surely at one time, we have all probably had some tears ‘burn’ our eyes.

 Luke 22:62 says, “So Peter went out and wept bitterly.”On hearing this explanation, it becomes clear how important our healing is from others actions, as they can become a poison in our bodies. There are records showing how many survivors who aren’t believers in the Lord, became sick with cancer and other life threatening diseases.

So crying does bring healing and tears bring life. Our tears have an important purpose.
The Bible teaches us there are three things that cause us to shed tears:it’s because of PHYSICAL pain EMOTIONAL painSPIRITUAL painContrary to what many people believe, tears aren’t a sign of weakness, tears are a sign of strength. Its the ability to humble ourselves and allow the reality of our situation to be seen by others.

Crying brings the release of emotion, allowing God to replace all the inner pain with JOY, HOPE and LOVE and to fill our hearts and minds with His Shalom/ the PEACE that passes ALL understanding. 

It has been said that … an interesting observation.

Remember we are greatly loved and cherished and  Coming in Part 2: 

A look at some amazing images showing the intricacies in the designs of tear drops from different emotions.