Last Sunday Tambry’s prelude was an arrangement of “There Is a Balm in Gilead.” This old spiritual is one of my favorite hymns. The melody alone is beautiful, but its words are so gripping that even when it is played instrumentally, you can’t help silently singing the words in your head. The first verse goes

There is balm in Gilead,
To make the wounded whole;
There’s power enough in heaven,
To cure a sin-sick soul.

The Bible mentions the “balm of Gilead” several times, and it refers to an actual balm, which was widely known for its healing properties; it was produced from a tree that grew in the Gilead region east of the Jordan River. The first mention of it in the Bible occurs in Genesis 37:25-28 when Joseph’s brothers sell him to a caravan carrying spices, balm and myrrh from Gilead to Egypt. Probably the most remembered verse concerning the balm is Jeremiah 8:11 where the prophet cries out for the state of his people, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?” The second verse of the hymn gives a resounding New Testament answer of “Yes!” to Jeremiah’s question.

How lost was my condition
Till Jesus made me whole!
There is but one Physician
Can cure a sin–sick soul.

To me just hearing the music of the hymn has a calming, soothing effect, just like a salve on a burn, and much of that comes from this second verse. Jesus is the physician that can cure the sin-sick soul. This wonderful hymn brings home to us all the unconditional love of Jesus.

Jim