The real doctor

"Is there no balm in Gilead ? Is there no physician there ? "Jeremiah 8:22

The balsam was in biblical times, as nowadays, a substance to which were attributed therapeutic virtues. The balm of Gilead, one of the chief export products of the land of Canaan (Gen. 37:25; 43: 11; Ezek. 27:17), had the reputation of calming sorrows and healing wounds (Jer. 46. ​​(1).

It is not surprising that such a substance has been valuable. If a drug has relieved us of great pain, we will remember its name, we will keep a sample carefully.

But Jeremiah speaks in the moral sense. The pain of his heart is immense. "O my consolation in my grief ! My heart is languishing within me ... I am broken from the ruin of the daughter of my people ; I mourn, and terror has seized me "(Jer 8: 18-21). He then asks these painful questions : "Is there no balm ... Is there no doctor there ?" The answer will be delayed, but God will give it to Jeremiah, positive And more marvelous than he could have foreseen :

- A balm, that is to say, return to the promised land : "I will gather the rest of my flock from all the countries where I have driven them away ... they will bear fruit and multiply" (Jer 23: 3) .

"A physician, that is to say, the Messiah," Behold, I will apply to him a dressing-apparatus, and remedies, and I will heal them, and reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth "(Jer. 6).

What precious balm in all the words of God to Jeremiah ! Even if he had to describe some terrible facts : "When Jerusalem was taken ... [the Chaldeans] besieged it ... [the king of Babylon] blew the eyes of Zedekiah ... the Chaldeans burned the king's house with fire, Houses of the people, and cut down the walls of Jerusalem "(Jer. 39: 1-8).

For us also, as for Jeremiah, the balm for our sorrows, it is God who provides it ; He assures us that he can and will give it to us in his mercy and power when we are in a difficult and painful situation.

God has revealed to us the doctor who applies the balm. Then all our hope is in Jesus.

Oh ! My God, thank you for your promises and for Jesus who accomplishes them !

Source (To pleasing the Lord)