“You have taken note of my journey through life, caught each of my tears in Your bottle. But God, are they not also blots on Your book?” Psalm 56:8 (VOICE)
“Jesus wept.” John 11:35 (NIV)
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4-5 (NIV)
Tears. How many tears do we cry in a lifetime? What volume of tears does a lifetime of crying produce?
A 1966 research paper (S. Mishima; A. Gassett; S. D. Klyce, Jr.; J. L. Baum Determination of Tear Volume and Tear Flow in The Journal of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science June 1966 Volume 5 issue 3 pp.264-276) concluded: “The average tear volume obtained was 7.0 ± 2.0 µl (i.e. 5 to 9 micro-litres per tear…five to nine millionths of a litre in every tear drop), with no significant difference between age groups, sexes, and fellow eyes.” The researchers also reported that, “The tear volume was found to increase with increasing tear flow” – the more you cry the bigger your tears are. In 2014 the designer Keita Suzuki created a fluid-filled chair which supposedly contains the equivalent volume of liquid that a person would shed in a lifetime of tears: 64 litres. There’s no source credited for his calculation but using the 1966 science paper would suggest that represents approximately 71 trillion tears produced by a single person.
This is all very interesting. Fascinating even. But what truly takes my breath away is the thought that not a single tear, shed by a single person, is missed by the Lord. He notes every tear shed by every person. He weeps with us and for us in our sorrows and losses and wounds and hurts (John 11:35). And that day will come when He personally wipes away every tear and there will be no more crying (Revelation 21:4-5).
Soon and very soon we are goin’ to see the King (x3), Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we are goin’ to see the King!
(Andraé Crouch, 1976)
No more cryin’ there we are goin’ to see the King (x3), Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we are goin’ to see the King!
No more dyin’ there we are goin’ to see the King (x3), Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we are goin’ to see the King!
Soon and very soon we are goin’ to see the King (x3), Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we are goin’ to see the King!
May we each find comfort in knowing that every one of our tears is witnessed by the Lord, is valued by the Lord, and will be held and healed by Him.