JOSEPH'S TEARS
Today's reading: Genesis 40-43

"Now he left the room and found a place where he could weep." Genesis 42:24 NLT

"Then Joseph made a hasty exit because he was overcome with emotion for his brother and wanted to cry. Going into his private room, he wept there." Genesis 43:30 NLT

Reading about Joseph and his heartache reminds me of one of my most prized souvenirs from Israel-- a tear bottle.

It's a small, ornate glass bottle. It has a green hue to it and small gold stripes. It has a cap, or stopper for it's top made also of glass.

It's real name is a 'lachrymatory'. It was created as a visual aid for the following verse...

"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

Today, as in the Roman times and the Victorian age, these tiny bottles are given as gifts when one loses a loved one. A gift of sympathy.

I will almost guarantee that Joseph had cried many a tear before his brothers arrived at his feet to ask for grain.

I imagine he cried in the pit they threw him into.

I imagine he cried as the dust swirled behind the caravan he was sold to as it moved farther and farther away from his home.

I imagine he cried as a guilty verdict was declared in regards to Potiphar's wife's accusations.

I imagine he cried himself to sleep many a night in his jail cell.

The tear bottle sitting here in my prayer closet reminds me that not a one of his tears were ignored by God. None of them fell to the ground unnoticed by his Creator.

Not a single one of yours do, or will, either.