Healing for the sin-sick soul

This Sunday marks the end of summer which for some churches means that tomorrow they will celebrate the equinox with some sort of pagan ritual. Not in my church I assure you. We shall make the transition to fall by hearing the lament of Jeremiah in chapter 8:18-9:1,

 My joy is gone, grief is upon me,

   my heart is sick.

 Hark, the cry of my poor people

   from far and wide in the land:

‘Is the Lord not in Zion?

   Is her King not in her?’

(‘Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,

   with their foreign idols?’)

‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended,

   and we are not saved.’

 For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,

   I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

 Is there no balm in Gilead?

   Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of my poor people

   not been restored?

O that my head were a spring of water,

   and my eyes a fountain of tears,

so that I might weep day and night

   for the slain of my poor people!

Poor Jeremiah. I hope he is listening now to this beautiful rendition of "There is a balm in Gilead" in the knowledge that Jesus came to be that healing balm.

 Refrain:

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

1. Sometimes I feel discouraged,

And think my work's in vain,

But then the Holy Spirit

Revives my soul again.

(Refrain)

2. If you can't preach like Peter,

If you can't pray like Paul,

Just tell the love of Jesus,

And say He died for all.

(Refrain)