Is There No Balm in Gilead?

“Is there no balm in Gilead?” At times when I was in Chile, jokingly on a day when some setback would occur, we would dramatically throw our hands up and ask this question. At times, this setback would be as small as knocking a door and there being no answer. Times like that, we would always finish with a good laugh. At times, we would say it when we found out that someone who was a good friend won’t talk to us because he did not want to upset friends and families by talking with the Mormons. Times like that, we would ask the question in a very real way, a sincere way. “Is there no balm in Gilead?”

The story originates in the bible of this miracle balm, a type of medicinal salve, from a place called Gilead. This balm became a symbol for the power to sooth and heal. When warriors were wounded in battle, they used balm of Gilead. When someone was sick, they used Balm of Gilead. Balm of Gilead became one of the top exports in the land, so much that even the traders who bought Joseph and took him to Egypt were taking the balm to trade in Egypt. This Balm was a most miraculous substance.

At a time of devastation later on, Jeremiah the prophet asked the now famous question “Is there no balm in Gilead?” Jeremiah viewed his people and asked why it is they were having difficulties if they had this miracle balm. Of course, his two sided question became a spiritual one, why are they having difficulties when they have God? Just as the balm heals a broken body, obeying God would heal the broken soul.

This week has been one of me asking for this balm. It has been one of those weeks that kicks me down, throws me in a hole; however you want to look at it. Tragedy in the life of a young girl I baptized in Chile has hurt me emotionally. This young girl (not so much anymore, being seventeen), took her own life. It is a very personal kind of pain, one that is hard to comfort. I write about it to make sense of it, not to publicize it. These last two days, I haven’t been sleeping well. My thoughts are with her. I’ve read journal entries to make sense of it all, but I find myself at the end just being sad. Suicide is such a tough subject because it is a tragedy in the most real of all definitions of tragedy. How does God forgive one who gives up on their mortal life?

Then, I was touched when people close to her, remembering me as the missionary who taught her, asked me for comfort. Of course, my initial thought is that they are asking the wrong guy. Then I figured, if they ask me I better do all I can to try to get an answer. It was difficult process thinking, pondering, understanding, and praying. I then thought about the life of any person. Does God judge a person by one mistake and solely that mistake? Does he take us at our worst, and use that as a way to judge? I don’t think so. Just as it would be unfair for God to judge you for only one sin, it would be unfair for him to judge this young woman only on her final act.

I then thought as God as a judge. I thought of who the advocate, or who the lawyer is in this situation. I believe it to be Jesus Christ. He is the one who will be begging God to apply mercy in our situation. I can honestly say there is no better person to be that lawyer than the Savior.

I wrote back those who asked for words of comfort. It was a short message, “God will not judge one act alone. I am sad with what has happened, but I am happy that Christ is her lawyer before God.”

Many times when life gets hard, or we are left asking for that balm, it is no more than an opportunity to realize where our power lies. Often we hear stories of people blaming God, and then when they realize that it is that same God that delivered them from their time of crisis, they turn to him. We may not all be shaking our fists at the heavens every day, but we will still find ourselves in the hole sometimes. It is those moments in the hole that we learn that we can’t do it alone. It is then that a hand comes to lift us out, strengthening our belief in Him.

If you are in a hole, look at it as a chance to strengthen faith. Although there isn’t a lot of brightness in our dark times of life, we most certainly can make an effort to put our trust in the deliverer while we are down for the count. There is a balm in Gilead that we have today. That balm is the morals that rule us, our concern for our neighbor, our ability to love others, and our love for quiet pondering. That balm is the same balm we find in God’s law. To receive it, we must only live it.