Is there No Balm in Gilead?
Jeremiah 8:22… Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?
Background:
• Jeremiah was weeping over the spiritual condition of Israel and epically the godless state of Judah.
• Degrading of religious authority
• Lack of interest in their spiritual condition by the church leaders
• The church was wrapped up in material and political gain instead of the people
Because of the severe conditions, Jeremiah saw he cried out:
Jeremiah 8:22… Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?
Def Balm = an oily aromatic resin exuded from trees and shrubs in hot desert countries. It was believed to contain healing assistance and was very rare, expensive and hard to find. Only the rich people had a ready supply. Myrrh was almost the same and often was sold as the same.
He notices the lack of caring of the leadership, both political and religious. Jeremiah saw the hurt, the frustrations and the fear of the people. He saw people wounded and broken who needed healing.
He pleaded to the leaders of the land and to the people to turn to God for guidance and help, but they refused to listen to him. He warned them of pending destruction so they accused him of false prophecy and threw him in the dungeon to die. He continued to proclaim the help and assistance that was available through God.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Today as we look around, we see continued suffering, pain and hurts in the lives of the people. People who need a miracle of emotional, physical or spiritual healing that can only come from God. Healing of rejection, abuse, pain and torment.
Is there no balm in Odessa Texas?
Isaiah 53:3… He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Jesus was rejected the most by those who he came to help.
John 1:11… He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Jesus did all he could to get the Jewish church to accept Him. He really did not feel a calling to the other people.
ILL a woman of Canaan came to him for the healing of her daughter.
Matthew 15:24… He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
Jesus was trying to reach the people who did not want Him.
Rejection is a devastating action against a person. They feel they are to blame for the rejection and try to resolve the issue with all their might. It causes poor self-esteem and anger begins to build in their spirit.
ILL of rejection
1) A young woman died while delivering her first baby. The doctors preformed a c-section and save the baby girl. When presented to the father he said, “why did you save the very thing the killed my wife. I don’t want her and will not take her out of the hospital
2) A father had two sons. One was very gifted and intelligent and one was mentally handicapped. An accident took the life of the gifted child leaving the father with only one son. He stated I wish the mentally handicapped child had killed because he will not amount to anything. The boy withdrew into himself refusing to speak to anyone until and loving Christian woman reached out and help him to trust again.
3) Adopted children, raised in a loving home by good parents will still often feel the rejection of the birth parents. They will search for their birth parents and their identity.
4) A young mother with two children beaten, rejected by the husband and father for another woman. Her entire life she had felt rejection from her own father and mother. She was nervous, fidgety scared, and could not make even the simple decisions of life. She covered her pain with boldness and aloofness so there was little outward evidence of the inner pain. One day she went to an altar and found healing for the inner heart.
Isa 54:5-6 …for your Creator will be your husband. The LORD Almighty is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth. For the LORD has called you back from your grief…
5) A young mother stood in a prayer line with her daughter, needing help from God. Full of worry, pain and hopelessness because her daughter had been sexually abused by the father. They both needed healing and were desperate. God came into their life and free them of the guilt and remorse that haunted their minds. Satan was defeated because there is a loving God that heals the damaged emotions.
6) The man is dismissed from his job, accused of things that were not true. Rejected by the employer who would not believe the truth. Co-workers are sympathetic but distance themselves from the situation. His ability to care for his family is crushed before his eyes and worry begins to invade his mind. As tears flow down his cheeks.
7) Three times in the past six months, I have had very sad phone calls. Women calling because they came to Odessa because of their husbands work. Then the husband abandoned them here with no money, transportation or food. Feeling the extreme pain of rejection needing help and some one to care just a little. Friends, there is a balm in Odessa Texas for each one.
ILL The woman at the well… John 4 tells a story of a rejected person.
• Five husbands, four had all ready rejecter her
• She came to the well alone when other were not present = rejection
• She responded to the ministry of Jesus = healing
• She proclaimed the healing to others = belief
John 4:39… Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."
ILL Cast the first stone… John 8:3-5… The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"
• She was made to sand in public as the accusations filled the air
• Rejected by the religious leaders
• Rejected by the people
• Standing alone with no one to support her
John 8:7… When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
John 8:10 – 11 … Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
Jesus not only saved her soul but he also healed the pain of her rejection
Rejection is bondage, a chain that is locked onto the soul not by sin but by the bondage of others.
ILL The leper
Lev 13:45-46… "The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ’Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.
Leprosy destroyed human dignity. Israel was the only nation that made no provision for those with this illness. The leper was rejected and cast out of society by the community, friends and family.
Naaman was a captain of the Syrian army but he had leprosy. He had great victories and was honored by his country even with leprosy.
Matthew 8:2… A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
This leper was a rejected man, unclean and destitute in society. Jesus, the balm of healing touched his life and he was healed.
Application:
• Have you been rejected by members of your family?
• Do you think other dislike you because of who you are?
• Is you heart scarred by events of the past stealing your joy in life?
• Has abuse tormented your spirit causing guilt and regret in your mind?
• Are chains wrapped around your spirit placing you in bondage
Listen church there is a balm, a healing power in Odessa of the rejected ones of life. In the name of Jesus, we will apply the healing touch on your behalf. You can be healed of the pain, torment and the struggle deep with your life, today
There is healing in the name of Jesus. His love and compassion will invade your heart giving courage and strength for you to make a full commitment to him.
Closing:
Jeremiah found himself caught in a time when the power of God was set aside and there was no healing for the people.
Healing Scriptures:
Jeremiah 33:2…"This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it--the LORD is his name: ’Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
Matthew 11:28… "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Psalms 119:114…You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
Psalms 61:3… For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.
Psalms 32:7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
There is a balm of healing for:
• the rejected,
• the abused,
• the cast outs,
• the lonely,
• the hurting
• the desperate
