I know I stop and pause over these verses every year when I encounter them. Kind of surprised that the last time I wrote on them was 2012. Taking the thoughts from back then and touching them up a bit as I chew again in wonder of what God keeps count.

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It’s kind of interesting to think about the things God counts. I work in a world where, if we care about it, we measure it, we track it, and we report it on a dashboard. Now, I don’t think God has a “dashboard” He updates with His latest numbers, but I have read about a book or two where He keeps track of stuff. And not the stuff I might track if I were the eternal Sovereign. In fact, there’s stuff I might keep track of which He blots out and forgets (Isa. 43:25) — even removing it far from us, as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12). No, instead, that which God counts, that which He keeps track of, is intended as a reminder of His constant care for us. And knowing what He keeps count of serves as a catalyst for a renewed determination to trust Him in all circumstance.

You have kept count of my tossings;
       put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?

(Psalm 56:8 ESV)

Psalm 56 is another one of those Psalms where David’s taking it in the teeth.

. . . for man tramples on me;
              all day long an attacker oppresses me” (v.1)

. . . all day long they injure my cause (v.5)

. . . they watch my steps,
              as they have waited for my life (v.6).

Relentless! It just doesn’t stop! The attacks keep coming. The oppression keeps squeezing the breath out of him. Desperation sets in.

And where does David turn when there’s nowhere else to turn?

Be gracious to me, O God . . . (v.1)

When I am afraid,
              I put my trust in You.
. . . in God I trust,
              I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? (v.3-4)

What can man do to me? (v.11)

David turns to the Lord with unwavering faith. Because David believes that God tracks every situation. That God records every detail. David knows that as he tosses through anxiety ridden, sleepless nights, that God is keeping count.

David felt like a ball in a pinball machine, getting bounced here and there. Tossed back and forth, at times he felt out of control as he aimlessly, it seemed, endured the gauntlet. But David knew that God knew. That his Deliverer was keeping track of each step. That his Refuge was intimately familiar with each staggering path he was taking. That his Fortress followed every unsure step and would keep his feet from falling (v.13a).

I don’t imagine David the warrior as a crier. But he must have shed a tear or two (or three) along the way for he believed that the God of Creation collected his tears and put them in a bottle. That the drops that fell from his eyes, and ran down his cheeks, were collected, counted, recorded in a book (along with the associated reason for their being shed, I’m thinkin’) and stored by a God who is big enough to notice and track the smallest details of our lives. And, as the Spirit interceded with David’s spirit, assuring Him of God’s divine collection and counting ministry, in the midst of the tempest, David could pen with confidence,

This I know, that God is for me. (v. 9b)

Paul, moved by the same Spirit that moved David, would pen the same sentiment centuries later.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

(Romans 8:31, 37 ESV)

Oh, to be reminded that God is intimately aware of the details of our lives — even keeping count of our tossings and of our tears.

. . . in God I trust,
              I shall not be afraid.

By His grace. For His glory.