October 4

I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’ — Ezek 34:16 BSB

Unique illnesses need unique remedies, but here is a general remedy, a family medicine. The Lord doesn’t just have strong remedies for desperate diseases; His divine medicine chest also has restoratives and cordials. “Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples,” the Bride cries, “for I am faint with love.” She was weak and needed a restorative to bring her back. So, a weary soul may come to hear the preached gospel or open the Bible and say, “What’s here for me? When I hear of deep experiences, they seem to exclude me for being too deep; and when I hear of great spiritual revelations, they seem to exclude me for being too high. I feel like a strange, peculiar creature, unable to sink deep or rise high.”

Well, you’re like someone sick in a hospital, suffering from an illness that confuses all the doctors. Finally, a more skilled doctor says, “There is no specific disease. But like many of our patients, this person is suffering from lack of nourishment, dying from exhaustion. They need better blood. Give them good food and wine, and a nourishing diet to restore their strength and renew their life.” This is how the great Physician—Jehovah-rophi—works. “I will strengthen the sick.” The blood and righteousness of Jesus—His flesh, which is true food, and His blood, which is true drink—are given to the starving soul as a life-giving remedy.

There is balm in Gilead, and there is a Physician there. Souls sick with sin seek that balm and that Physician. If you have a real case, there is a remedy in the family medicine chest. You may not have found it yet, but there’s a drawer, and in that drawer is a remedy prepared by infinite wisdom and everlasting love. It’s a remedy no Pharisee doctor ever prescribed, nor an apothecary wise in his own eyes ever prepared, but it’s exactly what you need. When that drawer is opened, and the remedy brought out and taken, you will be able to say with David, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”