June 10, 2025 Devo

My wife is all about memories. Pictures and souvenirs are everywhere in our home. We have knick-knacks, coins, and ornaments from every place we’ve been. But this is not a recent habit or even a hobby she developed as a young adult. She’s ALWAYS been this way. She started keeping a diary when she was 8 or 9 years old. She continued to write in those diaries until she was 30, and we had our first child. Then life got too busy.
But she did more than write. She saved tickets from events she went to. She saved programs, bulletins, and matchboxes. When she went roller skating as a teen and would get a blister on her foot as a result, she saved the skin of the blister. It reminded her of the guys she skated with. I have to confess that sounded a little too Hannibal Lecter-like and freaked me out a bit!
To some of us, her behavior may sound a bit obsessive. And maybe it is. But where most of us can hardly remember where we went or what we did even WEEKS ago, Wanda can pull her diaries out and tell you about every date she had from 50+ YEARS ago! She doesn’t have to remember. She SAVED her memories. She can pull it out any time she wants and reflect on it.
David paints God a bit like Wanda in our passage today. No, God doesn’t save his blisters. But do you know what He DOES save? Our sorrows. Take a look at our passage again. “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” God doesn’t just notice our sorrows, He keeps track of them. And our tears are so precious to Him that He catches them and saves them in His bottle. Let this blow your mind. Our pain, the things that cause us to weep and wail, the grief that rocks our soul and floods out of our eyes, are God’s Holy Water. Our sorrow moves Him deeply. And He wants us to know that He will never forget what we have been through.
Let this comfort your heart today. Are you suffering from a broken heart? Feel God’s arms around you. Know that your broken heart breaks His Heart, too. Are you grieving the loss of someone you love? You're not alone in your pain. God is right there beside you. He is writing down every feeling, every hurt. He’s keeping track of every wound, every scar. And if you feel His Holy Hand on the side of your face, it’s not just there to let you know He’s near. He’s catching those tears. He’s saving them, remembering them, and keeping them. They are precious to Him because YOU are precious to Him. And one day, when you’re with Him in Heaven, maybe God will show them to you. When He opens up the diary of His great love. That’s God’s Word for you today.