“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?”

Jeremiah 8:22

Is there no relief?” The anguished man in the television commercial rubbed his forehead in pain. He seemed to despair for an aspirin strong enough to help. As Christians, we occasionally wonder the same. When hardships broadside us, when pain settles in to stay, we cry, “Is there no relief?”

Jeremiah wondered the same. Amid the horror of the Babylonian invasion, the prophet looked toward the east, to Gilead, a land that was famous for producing medicinal balms to heal wounds. He inasmuch asked, “Do they make an ointment in Gilead strong enough to help us? Is there no cure, even in a place like Gilead?”

We know the answer. For out of Palestine there came a Cure. An Ointment to soothe the wounded. A Salve to ease the pain. “Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Matt. 9:12-13). When you are the one who is at the center of the universe, holding it all together—if everything lives, moves, and has its essence, its being, in you (Acts 17:28)—you can do no more than give yourself when someone is hurting. Jesus helps the hurt.

So in Isaiah 54 he becomes the Husband to the divorced woman. In Psalm 10 he becomes the Father of the orphaned. In Zechariah 2 he becomes the Wall of Fire to those who need protection. In Isaiah 62 he becomes the Bridegroom to the woman who grieves that she’ll never marry. In Exodus 15 he becomes the Healer to the sick. In Isaiah 9 he is the Wonderful Counselor to the confused and depressed. In John 4 he becomes the Living Water to the thirsty. In John 6 he’s the Bread of Life to those who are hungry for more than this world can give.

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.

Sometimes I feel discouraged,

And think my work’s in vain,

But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.

Press the ointment of your love on my hurting heart today, Lord. Be everything to me.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Finding God’s Gifts Amid Suffering

Darci joins Crystal Keating to share her story and to encourage anyone with chronic pain or suffering. She points to the powerful gifts God provides amid suffering: perseverance, courage, and direction when you feel like you can’t go on.

Tune In!

The post first appeared on Joni and Friends.