We Do Not Cry Alone

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8 (NLT)

As of sunset on January 19th, the U.S. Coast Guard announced its heartbreaking decision to suspend the search. They were searching for the twelve missing U.S. Marines involved in January 14th’s helicopter crash off the coast of Hawaii. Finding no signs of the twelve missing Marines, the Coast Guard will now focus on recovery and salvage operations.

My Facebook friend’s brother-in-law is one of the missing.

The news footage attempts to capture the expanse of the steely blue Pacific. Haze covers the choppy depths of the families’ despair.

I pour over Facebook friends’ comments of sorrow and support and imagine rivers rolling down the faces of the Marines’ family members.

As my eyes brim with brine, words choke and leave me speechless as I try to compose a message.

Over the morning hours, my thoughts return to the families—little ones who cry in the night for their daddy; wives who long for their husband’s embrace; mothers and fathers who wish they could have protected their sons, to somehow change the course of events.

In our tears, we are heard.

In Psalm 56:8, God reminds us He is intimately concerned with every detail of our lives. God hears us cry out in anger when we don’t feel Him near. He listens when we cry in desperation to believe. He is there in the pools of our tears, no matter the reason for their shedding.

A bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” at the Memorial Service.

We aren’t the only ones to cry. The Bible is full of tears. We can turn to the One who holds our tears—the One who will also wipe them away. Remember Jesus shed his own tears in the Garden of Gethsemane before He died so we can one day have a tear-free eternity, and He cried when the sisters told him his friend Lazarus, their brother, was dead.

Jesus wept.

He sees our tears and records each one. He sees and He cares.