The Balm of Gilead

No Balm in Gilead?

Is there no balm in Gilead? The Lord asks this question in Jeremiah 8:22: “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” The problem was the indifference of God’s people to His will and to the law (His Word). Just two verses before this, God, speaking through Jeremiah, makes another observation: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” We all have grown lax when it comes to serving our God. At times, we do well, but then we seem to “peter out” and slack off on the things of God. We are a busy people, it seems, but perhaps busy in the wrong things!

Remember the old strong smelling salve that was good for wounds and scrapes and burns? You don’t see it any more, modern medicine has consumed it. I remember a balm (we called it “salve”) that my mother used to rub on our sunburned skin to soothe us. It was a smelly, brown salve that was thick and pasty, but it did relieve the pain. The question is asked “Is there no balm in Gilead?” I re-phrase it for us today “Is there no balm in churches?” Is there no balm in our homes, and in our places of work? Where is the soothing ointment that we used to see so frequently? Is there not an aromatic, sweet smelling salve of the Holy Spirit to comfort us, and heal our wounds?
There are spiritual wounds that beset us; some are slight abrasions, and others more severe, even fatal, but there is also a Physician here. There is a soothing Balm in Christ. Jesus is called “The Great Physician” by some, and indeed He is the healer of the body as well as the soul. Jesus is the balm of the church, the “balm of Gilead, if you will. He is able, and willing to comfort us against the spiritual wounds of lust, envy, jealousy, and contentions; He is the balm that will heal us. That is not to say that this old body will not suffer ever again, it wears out through years of use and abuse, but there is an ointment for the soul, and that is everlasting. The comforting hand of Jesus will never wear thin.
There are doctors today who treat illnesses, but they cannot make the body heal. Only God can fuse the skin back together again; only He can make the scrapes disappear, the doctor merely applies the right medication, and then the Lord does the work! Doctors do the right thing to prepare the body for healing, but God does the actual healing. No doctor is truly a healer, give praise where praise is due. There is a balm in the churches today, in the form of the Holy Spirit of God. Balm was a medication to heal pain, but Christ is our medication to heal the anxieties and troubled hearts of His people. All the counseling that doctors do, they cannot give the peace that the Lord gives us; when they experiment with troubled minds, they are, at best, guessing, and “practicing” medicine on us, but Christ is thorough, and He heals the perplexing vanities of our minds and hearts. The old balm that I remember had been perfumed so that it did not give off an unpleasant odor; Christ is a sweet smelling aroma, a perfume for the stench of sin, and the stink of a worldly life.

Take the “Balm of Gilead” and apply it to your life; take Jesus as your Savior and see what wonders he will perform through you. Take Him even while your healthy, and not just when aches and pains prevail; He is the Balm of Gilead, the Great Physician for the soul, and the Medicine for our troubled minds. He cures the heartaches and the headaches of life, and comforts us when we are troubled. There is a cure for your “blues”; there is a cure for your worries and your depression; there is a friend for the lonely, a companion for the forlorn, and a hope for the hopeless, all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus will carry you through the storms, and set your feet upon solid ground. Won’t you ask Him to save you today? Remember Jeremiah 8:20: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Will this verse describe you, my friend? Now is the time of salvation, “(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)”

Gypsy Martindale