"Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work's in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again..."
This video recording of The Adventist's Vocal Ensemble singing "There is a Balm in Gilead" was shared with me recently. It reminded me of an experience I had as a young mom.
Whenever I hear a choir sing, "There is a Balm in Gilead." I can't help but think of its contextual source from the book Jeremiah which reads:
"Is there no balm in Gilead;
is there no physician there?
Why then is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered?"
I have to admit that there is always something about finding that passage - as part of my Bible study - which makes me feel as if the whole of creation is truly "at one." A gospel hymn sung by a choir, a prophet writing centuries ago, a mom sitting at her daughter's bedside.
But I digress. For years, I always found that passage from Jeremiah both comforting and confusing. How could God be everywhere, but not in Gilead? Where was Gilead anyway? Etymological research was helpful -- sort of. I found these definitions: "a rocky mountainous region, the grandson of Manasseh, a name given to a male child that means eternal happiness and joy."
Each time the passage would surface, I would seek deeper meaning, and I would pray for inspiration. But it remained a beautiful - yet confusing - passage for me.
That was, until our toddler daughter was struggling with an illness that seemed to be lingering. I'd been on-my-knees in prayer for over 24 hours when that passage flooded my heart:
"Is there no balm in Gilead;
is there no physician there?
Why then, is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered?"
Yes, I thought, that is my question, too. And on its heels came the answer:
"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come,
he answered them and said,
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold,
the kingdom of God is within you."
That was when I "got it." The balm, the salve, the comforting answer - it wasn't in Gilead. It wasn't in an inspired passage, a wise person, or a well-written article. No, they were only waymarks -- pointing us towards the true location. The balm was not in Gilead, it was in "the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God which was always, already "within" the daughter -- and her mommy. Within minutes, the symptoms completely disappeared and our daughter was playing happily.
I love Mary Baker Eddy's definition of "Children" from the Glossary in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which reads, in part:
"not in embryo, but in maturity"
My job wasn't to go searching for the balm -- in Gilead or anywhere else. It was my privilege to realize that the balm was already within our daughter -- the King's daughter -- who, as the Psalmist says is, "all glorious within."
This experience was simply my opportunity to recognize her spiritual maturity. To see that our spiritually-wise daughter was ever-conscious of the presence of God. She had every right to feel the fullness of His promise in her life -- as health, strength, wisdom, intelligence, purity -- as the All-presence of infinite good.
The "balm" - the comforting presence of the Comforter - is, never was, and never will be in Gilead, or anywhere else. It is, and has always been, in the kingdom of God -- which is always within you, and me, and "the daughter" -- and the son. This rhetorical question:
"Is there no balm in Gilead;
is there no physician there?
Why then is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered?”
stirs the human heart to ask -- where am I looking? And where do I place my trust?
God is All-in-all. Not All-in-some -- and the rest of us need to go searching for one of those wiser pilgrims. Not Some-in-all -- and we all need to find the someone, some place, or some institution with more "some" than others. But All-in-all. The kingdom of God within us all -- impartially and universally.
So the answer, for me, is, "no!" The balm, the physician, the comforting answer, is not in Gilead -- or anywhere else. It is within you, and me, and her, and him, and all.
offered with Love,
Kate
