Our physical bodies are resilient. We pound them on the football field, smack them in the boxing ring, and fly off ramps on skateboards. Then we get up and walk away. It’s only as we come to terms with our mortality that we realize we’ve done damage we cannot undo.
Spiritually we are the same. We are impact resistant. We bounce in and out of relationships, search for fulfillment in anything that appears promising, and abandon our faith at the slightest disappointment. It’s only when we come to terms with our mortality that we wish we had done things differently.
Jeremiah 8:22 asks:
“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?”
The balm the Word speaks of is resinous gums used for the Egyptian practice of embalming the dead. This phrase suggests bringing back to life that which is no longer living.
We can apply that to ourselves in the spiritual realm. How can we come back to life once we are dead in sin? Jesus is our balm, for only he can restore us from our sinful state.
Jeremiah 46:11 speaks to those who search for human salvation:
“Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you.”
We can look to astrology, to Hinduism, or into a crystal ball. However, we will not find our healing there. As the verse says, these things are in vain.
We have only one balm. That is to be found in the person of Jesus. We must return to him.
3 John 1:2 offers us God’s solution to heal our wounds:
“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.”
Here we find the true balm of Gilead. This verse tells us that “all [will] go well” and we will “be in good health” when all “goes well with [our] soul.”
It is reaching out to God that resolves the other issues in our lives. We must grasp for him, for without his hand of renewal, we will one day come to terms with our mortality, and we will wish we had done things differently.
When we apply Jesus, what was dead becomes alive once more.
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