Words of Grace – June 4, 2015

“Go up into Gilead, and take balm” (Jeremiah 46:11). In Gilead there was a healing medicine that doctors would recommend to their patients. The plant from which this medicine is derived is known as the “Balm of Gilead.”

It was possible for a sick person to be healed by the balm found in Gilead, but there was no spiritual healing. “In vain shalt thou use many medicines, “Jeremiah said, “for thou shalt not be cured.”

Earlier, the prophet had asked why the people were not saved. “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” (8:22). The real balm for the soul is salvation and the real physician is the Lord. He’s the “Great Physician.”

The sick could go to Gilead to get the healing balm for their bodies, but what could they do for their souls? “There is a Balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a Balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.”

When Jesus, the “Great Physician,” healed the sick, they were made whole. In other words, both their body and their soul was healed. Only the Lord can make us “perfectly whole” (Matthew 14:36).

Annie Johnson Flint wrote: “I cannot, but God can; Oh, balm for all my care! The burden that I drop His hand will lift and bear.”