“Put My Tears in Your Skin Bottle”

12. How do we know that Jehovah is fully aware of the adversities that his people suffer?

¹² Jehovah not only knows his servants individually but is also fully aware of the adversities each one suffers. For example, when the Israelites were being oppressed as slaves, Jehovah said to Moses: “Unquestionably I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their outcry as a result of those who drive them to work; because I well know the pains they suffer.” (Exodus 3:7) How comforting it is to realize that when we are enduring a trial, Jehovah sees what is happening and hears our outcries! He is certainly not indifferent to our suffering.

13. What shows that Jehovah truly feels for his servants?

¹³ Jehovah’s care for those who have entered into a relationship with him is further seen in his feelings for the Israelites. Even though their suffering was often a result of their own stubbornness, Isaiah wrote concerning Jehovah: “During all their distress it was distressing to him.” (Isaiah 63:9) As a faithful servant of Jehovah, you can be sure, then, that when you are pained, Jehovah is pained. Does that not impel you to face up to adversity fearlessly and to continue doing your best to serve him?​—1 Peter 5:6, 7.

14. What were the circumstances surrounding the composing of Psalm 56?

¹⁴ King David’s conviction that Jehovah cared for him and felt for him is made evident in Psalm 56, which David composed while running from murderous King Saul. David escaped to Gath, but he feared capture when he was recognized by the Philistines. He wrote: “My foes have kept snapping all day long, for there are many warring against me high-mindedly.” Because of his perilous situation, David turned to Jehovah. “All day long they keep hurting my personal affairs,” he said. “All their thoughts are against me for bad.”​—Psalm 56:2, 5.

15. (a) What did David mean when he asked Jehovah to put his tears in a skin bottle or in a book? (b) When we are enduring a faith-challenging situation, of what can we be certain?

¹⁵ Then, as recorded at Psalm 56:8, David makes these intriguing statements: “My being a fugitive you yourself have reported. Do put my tears in your skin bottle. Are they not in your book?” What a touching description of Jehovah’s tender care! When we are under stress, we may cry out to Jehovah with tears. Even the perfect man Jesus did so. (Hebrews 5:7) David was convinced that Jehovah observed him and would remember his agony, as if preserving his tears in a skin bottle or inscribing them in a book.d Perhaps you feel that your tears would fill a good part of that skin bottle or many pages of such a book. If that is the case, you can take comfort. The Bible assures us: “Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”​—Psalm 34:18.