May 21 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" (Jer. 8:22).

Devotional

There is! The physician is Jesus, the balm is his own most precious blood. He binds the broken heart. He heals the wounded spirit. All the skill, all the efficacy, all the tenderness and crucial sympathy needed for the office meet in Jesus. They center in him to the highest degree.

In that case, O disconsolate soul, bring your wounded heart here. Bring it simply to Jesus. One touch of his hand will heal the wound. One whisper of his voice will hush the storm. One drop of his blood will remove the guilt.

Nothing but faith's coming to him will do for your soul now. Your case is beyond the skill of all other physicians. Your wound is too deep for all other remedies. It is a question of life and death—heaven or hell! It is an emergency, a crisis, a turning point with you.

Oh, how solemn is this moment! How eventful! Eternity seems suspended upon it. All the intelligences of the universe—good spirits and bad—seem to be gazing upon it with intense interest. Decide the question by closing in immediately with Jesus. Submit to God. All things are ready. The blood is shed. The righteousness is finished. The feast is prepared. God stands ready to pardon. Yes, he advances to meet you, his returning child. He is set to fall upon your neck and embrace you with the assurance of his full and free forgiveness.

Do not let the simplicity of the remedy keep you back. Many stumble at this. It is only a look of faith: "Look unto me, and be saved" (Isa. 45:22). It is only a touch, even though with a crippled hand: "And as many as touched him were made well" (Mark 6:56). It is only a believing the broad declaration "that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). You are not called to believe that he came to save you; but that he saves sinners.

Then if you ask, "But will he save me? How do I know that if I come I shall meet a welcome?" Our reply is, just test him. Do not settle down with the conviction that you are too far gone, too vile, too guilty, too unworthy until you have gone and tried him. You know not how you wound him, dishonor him, and grieve the Spirit by yielding to a doubt—yes, the shadow of a doubt—as to the willingness and the ability of Jesus to save you until you have gone to him believingly, and put his readiness and his skill to the test.

Do not let the freeness of the remedy keep you away. This, too, is a stumbling-block to many. Its very freeness holds them back. But it is "without money and without price" (Isa. 55:1). The simple meaning of this is no worthiness on the part of the applicant, no merit of the creature, no tears, no convictions, no faith, is the ground on which the healing is bestowed. Oh no! It is all of grace—it is all of God's free gift, regardless of any worth or worthiness in man.

Your strong motive to come to Christ is your very sinfulness. Why go to him? Because your heart is broken and he alone can bind it up. Because your spirit is wounded and he alone can heal it. Because your conscience is burdened and he alone can lighten it. Because your soul is lost and he alone can save it.

And that is all you need to recommend you. It is enough for Christ that you are covered with guilt; that you have no plea that springs from yourself. It is enough for Christ that you have no money to bring in your hand, but have spent your all upon physicians, yet instead of getting better you only grow worse. It is enough for Christ that you have wasted your substance in riotous living and now are broke. It is enough for Christ that you really feel a drawing towards him, a longing for him—that you ask, you seek, you crave, you earnestly implore his compassion. That is enough for him. His heart yearns. His love is moved. His hand is stretched out.

Come and welcome to Jesus, come.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me
let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood,
from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure,
cleanse me from its guilt and pow'r.

Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law's demands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears for ever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress,
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the Fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
when mine eyelids close in death,
when I soar to worlds unknown,
see thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.

(Augustus M. Toplady, 1776)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.