Waiting on the Promises of God

turning our tears into wine

So many of God’s children have lived in seasons of delayed promises where it seems like nothing will ever shift in their lives and circumstances. The promises of God seem distant, for they have been waiting for a breakthrough and manifestation for what seems like forever. They live with a fight inside to not give up on the promises, but it is a daily battle to keep holding on to hope. Some have been in this fight for the promises for years, and some for decades. The struggle is real.

If this is you, I am writing to you today to share something the Lord has revealed to me in the Word that has breathed fresh hope on the promises of God in my life that I am waiting and believing for. In Psalm 56:8, David writes, Thou hast taken account of my wanderings, Put my tears in Thy bottle, Are they not in Thy book? (NASB) In this verse, David declares that God has noticed him, and He is collecting all His tears. In Hebrew, there is one word for the phrase taken account. This word means to record a story (Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible, Benner). It is also the root word of the word book in this verse. See, God has two books in Heaven about us. One is the book in Psalm 139:16, where He has recorded our destiny and purpose. The other is the book of remembrance, where He keeps a record of the stories of those who fear Him (Malachi 3:16). God sees, and He takes note when we trust Him even if we do not understand.

While waiting for the promises, the Bible tells us that God is collecting our tears in a bottle. Tears in Hebrew mean precisely what you think it would mean—tears and weeping. But when I looked up the word bottle, the Holy Spirit began to breathe fresh hope into my heart. The word bottle is nôʼd (H4997). It means a skin or leather bag for fluid. In the New Testament, this is the same word used for wineskin. You see, our tears are not collected in a bottle as we would think of in our minds as a bottle. No, our tears are collected in a wineskin! What happens with wine as it ages? It becomes better and better! The best and most expensive wine is aged wine! Just like natural wine, the tears God is collecting in a wineskin in Heaven are going through the aging process. The longer they age, the better the vintage! The more powerful the flavor. I heard Holy Spirit say, “The wait produces a fine vintage that will be poured out upon the nations, and they will drink of what I have done in you.”

Waiting on God’s promises is not easy. I have found that it takes going to God daily for fresh hope and fresh vision to see what He sees as I continue to stand on His Word and what He has spoken. The revelation from Psalm 56:8 has ministered to my heart the past few months in very deep places. There is a fine vintage being made. The longer the wait, the better the wine becomes. When it is time for the wine to be poured out and drunk by the nations, it will be the liquid of Heaven, where God has taken all our tears and turned them into something that will lead others to an intoxication of Himself.

God sees you today. Let this word bring fresh hope into your soul today. He sees your tears and is collecting them into a wineskin. The finest wine is being produced as part of your destiny and purpose.

I am including in this post a link to one of my favorite worship sets by Legacy Prayer Room Nashville. In this worship set, she expresses these heart cries when we have been waiting on God for years for His promises to come to pass.

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