Lovesong

Many, many moons ago when I was a teenager, my friend would play her guitar and sing a song by Jim Croce. It was my favorite sung by her. It's called "Time in a Bottle". For years she has been battling an illness and that song comes back to me in pieces and parts almost every day.

This morning I looked up all the lyrics and I was amazed. I wondered if Jim Croce ever realized who actually wrote this song of his!

This haunting lovesong tells of a bottle saving time, and I remembered a verse that says, "You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are {they} not in Your book?" Psalm 56:8

How amazing that God would be catching all your tears--tears of sorrow and of joy--in a bottle. Many people wonder if God even cares what they are going through. Know the tears that you cry and drop on the ground or dab with tissue are being caught because God cares that His children's emotions are bursting out of their tearducts.

How big a bottle do you think that would have to be? Another verse hints..."He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle..." Ps 33:7a

If you think about it scientifically...your tears evaporate into the air and eventually return to the earth as rain, and then go out to sea. Where they are kept in their salty container.

Mr. Croce also sings about an empty box, that held a memory of how someone answered a wish and dream for him when they walked into his life. I would imagine he is singing of his son, but did you know that God also speaks of an empty box in the Bible?

"When they constructed the place of worship, the Tabernacle, God said, "Construct the altar in the shape of an open box..." Exodus 27:8a

Every human on this earth has one basic need, to be loved. How much love do you think someone would have for you if they gave their life for you? God filled that empty box, that altar, with His own sacrifice: His son Jesus. He had shown that no matter how many sacrifices His people made with animals and food, it just was not enough. It would take one perfect sacrifice to redeem His children once and for all. No other sacrifices would be needed.

I know that Jim Croce was singing of his lady love and his child. But when I really listen to the words, I hear a lovesong from our Savior.

For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song. Zephaniah 3:17

When you are faced with the thought of eternity, I want you to hear "Time in a Bottle" in a new way. Really listen to it and hear that longing and promise of forever. May you be blessed knowing that God sings over you, collects your tears, and has a box with a treasure in it for you.

May you hear His voice today, singing, "you're the one I want to go through time with..."

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:6