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I will define some of the words in these verses from the Strong’s Concordance:

OPPOSE means to set oneself opposite; Be Disputatious.

[Disputatious in the Webster’s Dictionary means to act against.

Synonyms are: combat, withstand, resist, contradict, deny, obstruct]

I cannot think of any clearer definition of a person who is emotionally damaged. 

(Words in parenthesis are definitions from the Strong’s Concordance.)

We are to instruct these hurting people so God may give them repentance (a change of mind) to the acknowledging (correct knowledge) of the truth (What is true in any matter under consideration.)

And God tells us to instruct these people with gentleness so that they may recover themselves (we cannot do it for these people who oppose themselves) out of the snare (trap, noose---implies unexpectedly; caught unawares) of the devil.  God also tells us that these people who oppose themselves are taken captive by the devil at his will. These scriptures and definitions describes me many years ago.

The Bible tells us that Jesus suffered on the cross all that we can or will ever suffer here on earth.  His Father, God, to make a way for man to be forgiven of his sins...to be His child and live forever in Heaven, had to reject His only begotten Son.  Jesus was stripped of His clothes, beaten, and abused by men and rejected by His Father.  Jesus suffered the pain of the abused...He perfectly understands and does acknowledge us in these two passages of Scripture and many, many others.

God Heals...

Jeremiah 8:22....The children of Israel had a problem...just like many of us. (I have had this problem with habits I have tried to let God change.) They just couldn’t break the cycle...they were in fellowship with God for awhile...then they sinned...God called this routine a perpetual backsliding in verse 5. In their sinful state God would punish them and then they would repent and call upon the name of their God and walk with Him again....until they sinned again....and round and round and round they went on this cycle of behavior.

In verse 19 Jeremiah asks, "Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?"

And in verse 22..."Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?"

In the Strong’s Concordance health means healing or restoration.

IS THERE NO BALM IN GILEAD? NO HEALING?

Gilead was a real city---a neutral city. It was a city of refuge where fugitives could go and find refuge/safety. The city was famous for producing a balm---an ointment for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. This ointment was sought after by every country and every person in the world.

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