Thought for October 17, 2024

  •  1831: Felix Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto premiers
  • 1860: First British Open
  • 1904: Bank of Italy opens in San Francisco--now Bank of America
  • 1919: RCA formed as subsidiary of General Electric
  • 1920: Chicago Bears play their first NFL game
  • 1933: Albert Einstein arrives in the US as a refugee
  • 1939: "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" released
  • 1957: "Jailhouse Rock" premiers in Memphis
  • 1963: The Beatles record "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
  • 1968: "Bullitt" with Steve McQueen released and introduces the great car chase. The Mustang he drove was sold at auction in 2020 for $3.4 million.
  • 1979: Mother Teresa awarded Nobel Prize
  • 1989: 6.9 earthquake cancels game 3 of the World Series and kills 67
  • 2017: George Soros donates $18 billion to the Open Society Foundation--source of many bad things
  • Born: Arthur Miller, Rita Hayworth, Jimmy Breslin, Evel Knievel, Mae Jemison [first black woman in space], Alan Jackson, Ernie Els, Eminem
  • Died: Chopin, Julia Ward Howe, Ralph Abernathy, Tennessee Ernie Ford
Thought:
Reading Jeremiah 8:22 this morning. A simple question--"Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" Jeremiah has the assignment of telling the people about God's coming judgment in the form of the Babylonians. He brings messages from the Lord urging the people to repent and return to God, but the people will not listen and will not change. Jeremiah cries out asking God is there no medicine to cover and cure the sins of the people like the balm from Gilead. 

Gilead is in present day Jordan, east of the Jordan river. In Genesis, Jacob and Laban met there for the last time. Elijah was born in Gilead and came with the power of the Spirit as a prophet and was translated without death. Gideon won a victory over the Midianites there. Gilead was famous for its balm--a resin from the Balsoam Poplar that had qualities like myrrh. It was mixed with other things and used for healing. People would rub it on their chests to cure congestion, mix it with oil and treat burns, sunburn, skin irritations, bruises and swelling. It addressed inflammation and is still in use in certain products today. 

Recall that when Joseph was thrown in the well by his brothers, the caravan that took Joseph to Egypt was from Gilead and carrying balm. I have always thought that God gave us a picture in this story. Ishmaelites carrying physical balm to Egypt are really carrying God's healing balm to Egypt in the person of Joseph. God used the descendants of Ishmael to carry the son of Jacob to Egypt to bring eventual healing for the people. 

Many writers see Jesus as the balm that heals men's souls. This makes me think of that Negro Spiritual "There is a Balm in Gilead." This gospel song was sung by those suffering in slavery, oppression, beatings, mistreatment, separation of families. But it may speak to what the people in Judah needed and to what I may need to know for today:
Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my works in vain, but then the Holy spirit revives my soul again.

   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.

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. 

Blessings

Larry 

 

 

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