Psalm 56 Jan. 31 For the Chief Musician. To the tune of Silent Dove in Distant Lands. A poem by David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.  1Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long he attacks and oppresses me. 2My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me. 3When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. 4In God, I praise His word. In God do I put my trust. I will not be afraid- what can flesh do to me? 5All day long they twist my words, all their thoughts are against me for evil. 6They conspire and lurk, watching my steps, they are eager to take my life. 7Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, God. 8You number my wanderings, You put my tears into Your bottle. Aren’t they in Your book? 9Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me. 10In God, I will praise His word. In Yahweh, I will praise His word. 11I have put my trust in God; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 12Your vows are on me, God. I will give thank offerings to You. 13For You have delivered my soul from death, and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.   

Commentary

56:8 Tear bottles were kept by mourners at funerals; they put their tears in a bottle which they then kept in memory of the deceased. But David says that his tears are in God’sbottle. The idea was that your tears went into your bottle. But David was so intimate with God that he perceived that his tears were in fact God’s. The intimacy David achieved with God is absolutely possible for us too.