Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
David pours out complaint and prayer together, his mind caught between distress and confidence in God's mercy. Whether he wrote this during his desperate flight to Gath or after deliverance, the psalm shows him clinging to faith even when fear drove him to feign madness, a weakness of the flesh that did not extinguish the exercise of prayer.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 56:1-13
Thou tellest my wanderings. Every step which the fugitive had taken when pursued by his enemies, was not only observed but thought worthy of counting and recording. We perhaps are so confused after a long course of trouble, that we hardly know where we have or where we have not been; but the omniscient and considerate Father of our spirits remembers all in detail; for...
Several things David here comforts himself with in the day of his distress and fear. I. That God took particular notice of all his grievances and all his griefs, Psa 56:8. 1. Of all the inconveniences of his state: Thou tellest my wanderings, my flittings, so the old translation.
Commenting on Psalm 56:8-13