“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of My people?” Jeremiah 8:22 (NIV)
The Balm of Gilead has a deeper symbolic purpose in Scripture. God shows Israel that they’d turned to a temporary healing solution, but they had far deeper spiritual cuts that needed ultimate healing. They needed the true Physician, God Himself.
Today, I appeal to those who are sick, worried, restless, or anxious; those who are not at peace. If your life is touched with disappointment, grief, or bitterness; if you struggle constantly with worry, frustration, shame, or anxiety, I speak to you. Jesus is your healing Balm. The only One Who is able to heal and make us whole. He told His disciples in John 14:6 (NKJV), “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Therefore, it is quite clear Who we should seek first.
It is believed that less than 20 percent of sickness that affects the physical well-being of people originates in the body. “These physical disorders,” one doctor concluded, “are merely symptoms of some other kind of trouble.” What is the source of this trouble? In 3 John 1:2 (NIV), Apostle John blessed the church, by saying, “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.” Clearly, there is a nexus between our health and soul. Thus, where there is ill health, the first step to identifying the cause is to examine the state of one’s soul.
Matthew 16:26 (NIV) asks, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” We overwork ourselves many times, not paying attention to the needs of the soul or our spiritual needs but satisfying our physical needs. We must remember that we are spirit-beings as well; to ignore this, is to ignore reality.
Let’s not forget Who and what is our priority, Jesus, our Great Physician, and the need to feed our spirit as much as our body so that our soul prospers.
Read: 2 Kings 2:19-22; Proverbs 12:18
Bible Reading Guide: Psalms 119:65-72; 1Timothy 5; 1 Timothy 6:1-2; Jeremiah 43; Jeremiah 44; Jeremiah 45
