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WHAT IS THE BALM OF GILEAD?

Psalm 107: 1-20 This is the account of the Children of Israel going round and round with God. When they were in sin the Bible says, "Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses."

Verse 20 tells us what the balm of Gilead is: "He sent His WORD and healed them and delivered them from their destructions."

The healing ointment for every part of our lives is the Balm of Gilead. The Word of God heals us from all of our diseases. When the sin-sick soul applies the balm of Gilead there is both healing and beauty that comes forth from a healed life.

Does the Word of God heal?  Yes, and it makes beautiful what was bitter.

Several years ago a young woman sat in my living room trying to get victory over the plague in her soul caused by a childhood of sexual and ritual abuse. When God opened her heart with His Word the transformation was overwhelming---both spiritually and physically. My husband came home from work about an hour later and could not believe he was looking at the same young woman that he had seen a few days before. But God...unlocked her heart and made her very beautiful...where before she had a very sad and comely appearance.

This woman had deep and infected unseen wounds and scars...where mine, after I slid through that patio door, were very seen. However, the treatment was the same for both of us:  Mine was taken care of by me (I wouldn’t let anyone else cleanse, apply ointment and bandage my wounds twice a day.), and hers were attended to by the only perfect physician---the specialist in every field of medicine---the only physician who never makes a mistake---never gets accused of malpractice...by Jehovah-Rapha and His Word! God gently cleansed her deep, deep wounds....wounds that had gotten infected by Satan’s lies because of her years of never checking them and cleansing them and applying liberally the Balm of Gilead...the Word of God.

Jehovah-Rapha bound/bandaged this young woman’s oozing wounds and repeated the process many times a day.....just like I had to do with literal soap, water, ointment and bandages to get my wounds to heal. And as God did for that young woman He is  waiting to do for every one of His children. However the problem is far too many of His children do as I did at twelve years old....far too many Christians try to do it their own way....thinking they can do it better.

My mother was too glad to let me take care of myself. Her lack of interest put me in the position of taking care of myself from the time I was six years old. I often wonder if my wounds stayed infected and healed slowly because I did not take care of them properly. This thought can be translated to every wound in every area of our lives. We try to do it our way and do not know enough about cleansing and binding/bandaging and applying the Balm of Gilead---the Word of God  for our healing. Did I know enough at twelve years old to understand about washing my hands until they were free of germs? Did I understand enough about thoroughly cleansing the wounds before applying all of that ointment? Did I know enough to keep the bandages very clean and sterile? Later in my life I found myself in the same situation-- with gaping emotional wounds from a childhood of abuse: I didn’t wash my heart thoroughly until it was free from the germs/sin (anger, bitterness, believing lies, hating myself, lack of trust) so when I tried to apply the Balm of Gilead ---God’s Word-- those residual germs would multiply and keep the wounds infected.  I tried for fourteen years to take care of them my way before I turned to Jehovah-Rapha and His Word to take care of them for me.

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