ADMINISTERING THE BALM OF GILEAD

"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 N.I.V)

The daily newspapers are full of stories of murder, rape, devastating accidents and natural calamities. They are full of broken people and their woes about hunger, unemployment, sickness, domestic abuse, broken homes, abandonment, loneliness and many other ills.

When the affected people listen to the word of God, how do they take it? Does it fully meet them at the point of their need? Are they led by the disciples of Christ to enjoy all the benefits of knowing Christ and the fellowship of other believers? Are they able to say, "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases, who redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion, who satisfies my desires with good things so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:2-5)

People come to church looking for comfort, reaffirmation, counseling and advice, but often they meet people calling themselves Christians who do not take time address their pain. In the Book of James 2:15 -16 we read, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?"

Christ is asking, "Where are my people to reach out and heal all those who are broken hearted?"  Christ's word is the prized balsam of Gilead, "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)

In the book, The Empowered Communicator, Calvin Miller says that most people we come in contact with are silently thinking:

• I am loneliness waiting for a friend
• I am weeping in want of laughter
• I am a sigh in search of consolation
• I am a wound in search of healing

"The Church is God’s salve for their healing. We are "the balm of Gilead." God’s Spirit uses to bring healing and wholeness to humankind–-to give them life to the full". Ken Pell