Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?

A Balm of Gilead for Friends in a Time of Wars: A Quaker Biblical Witness

“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” (Jeremiah 8:22). The cry of the prophet echoes across centuries into our present hour of trembling nations, wounded bodies, and wounded spirits. For Friends—rooted in the Living Presence, the Inward Light, and the testimony of Peace—this ancient question is not rhetorical alone. It is a query that turns inward and outward at once: Where is the healing? And will we receive it?

The balm of Gilead, as known in Scripture, was both material and mystical—a resin drawn from the wounded bark of a tree, transformed into medicine. So too for Friends: the balm we seek is not abstract. It is drawn from lives opened, from hearts broken tender, from obedience to the Spirit in times of trial.

Thee Light and Lands are the Biblical Grounding and the Quaker Condition for the Wellspring

The prophet’s lament in Jeremiah is not that balm does not exist—but that it is not applied. Healing is available, yet refused. In Quaker language, we might say: the Light is present, yet resisted.

Bible reminds us that healing is covenantal—rooted in relationship with the Divine. Psalm 147:3 declares, “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” Yet this binding is not coercive. It is invitational.

Religious Society of Friends have long testified that Christ is come to teach His people Himself—not through force, but through inward persuasion. Thus the balm of Gilead becomes, for Friends, the living presence of Christ within and among us—the Inward Teacher who reveals both wound and cure.

As George Fox wrote:

“Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit… then thou wilt feel the principle of God to turn thy mind to the Lord God.”

Stillness becomes the place where balm is applied. In the silence of Meeting for Worship, we do not escape the wounds of the world—we hold them in the Light until they are transfigured.

Christ as Balm, Peace as Practice

Friends have historically understood the “balm” not only as inward consolation but as outward transformation. If Christ is the balm, then to live in Christ is to become instruments of healing in a wounded world.

Isaac Penington writes:

“Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness… bearing one with another, and forgiving one another.”

This is not sentiment—it is a purificaton of our Experiences as spiritual medicine. In times of war, when nations choose domination over dignity, Friends are strengthened and encouraged with our being freshly called to a radical application of balm: nonviolence, truth-telling, justice, and restorative peace.

American Friends Service Committee has long embodied this, bringing relief in war zones while witnessing to the deeper healing needed: the transformation of systems rooted in violence. However, this is a modern version of a long tested living testimony that predates modern warfare.

The balm of Gilead, then, is not merely for private wounds—it is for the body politic. It asks: can our societies repent? Can nations be healed?

Contemporary Voices: The Balm Still Flows

Friends today continue to name and apply this balm in a fractured world and in restoarative experiential truth:

Parker Palmer reflects:

“The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient… but also shy. If we want to see it, we must sit quietly and wait.”

Here, healing begins with attention—deep listening to the Spirit and to one another.

Vanessa Julye, in her work on racial justice, reminds us:

“Healing requires truth-telling and transformation, not avoidance.”

Thus, the living balm is not anesthesia. It does not numb injustice—it exposes the injust in our own hearts and heals it intraperfectably.

John Woolman, whose life stands as a testimony, wrote:

“I was taught to be content with a plain way of living… and to seek peace with all men.”

His witness shows that the balm of Gilead may require us to relinquish complicity in systems of harm.

Margaret Fell proclaimed:

“Let this be your first principle: to stand in the power of God.”

To stand in that power is to trust that there is a healing power that can be known without name that is possible—even when a world appears beyond remedy.

A Balm for a World at War

In our present age—marked worldwide conflisct, summary executions, illegal and immoral lost conviction or suffering by armed conflict, ecological grief, displacement, and the numbing rhythms of violence—the question of Jeremiah becomes urgent: Why then is not the health of the (God’s) people recovered?

Friends might answer:

• Because we have trusted in weapons more than in the Spirit and the Seed of Truth.
• Because we have mistaken power for healing.
• Because we have not yet fully yielded to the Inward Physician.

Yet the testimony of Friends is clear: the balm is not absent. The Light still shines. The Seed still rises.

To receive the balm today is to:

• Enter into worship that holds the suffering of the world.
• Practice nonviolence not as strategy, but as faithfulness.
• Engage in truth and reconciliation across lines of harm.
• Live simply, so that others may simply live.
• Trust that healing may begin in small, faithful acts.

As Howard Brinton observed:

“The Society of Friends is not a body of people holding certain doctrines, but a fellowship of seekers… who find in common experience a source of unity.”

This “common experience” is the balm itself—the shared encounter with the Living Christ, who heals and sends.

Queries for Worship and Discernment

1. Where does thee see wounds—in self, in our Meetings, and in the accursed shares of this world—that remain unhealed?
2. How does thee lose belief, is this a resisting constraint to the balm that God offers?
3. In what ways is our Meeting called to be a place of healing in a time of war?
4. How do we hold together truth-telling and tenderness in our work for justice?
5. What does it mean to trust the Inward Physician when outward remedies fail?
6. How can we embody Friends’ Peace Testimony as a form of active healing?

Supplemental: References, Further Reading, and Practices (for Study & Worship Sharing)

Core Biblical References

• Bible
  • Jeremiah 8:22; 46:11
  • Psalm 147:3
  • Isaiah 53:5
  • Genesis 37:25

Quaker Faith & Practice and Writings

• Quaker Faith and Practice
• Writings of George Fox
• Journals of John Woolman

Contemporary Quaker and Peace Voices

• American Friends Service Committee (peacebuilding and humanitarian work)
• Friends World Committee for Consultation (global Quaker connections)
• Parker Palmer — A Hidden Wholeness
• Vanessa Julye — Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship

Study & Worship Sharing Suggestions

• Meeting for Worship Theme: “Is there no balm in Gilead?” Hold this query in silence for 30–60 minutes.
• Worship Sharing Prompt: Invite Friends to speak from their own wounds and experiences of healing.
• Scripture & Silence Practice: Read Jeremiah 8:22 aloud, followed by extended waiting worship.
• Peace Vigil: Partner with local communities to witness publicly against war, holding signs or silence.
• Healing Circles: Create small groups focused on restorative listening and truth-telling.

Next Steps for Meetings

• Form a Peace and Healing Committee grounded in worship.
• Engage in anti-racism and restorative justice work as forms of applying balm.
• Support refugees and victims of war through material aid and accompaniment.
• Deepen interfaith peacebuilding, recognizing that healing crosses traditions.

Extra-Biblical & Peace References

• Early Friends’ Peace Testimony (1660 Declaration to Charles II)
• Nonviolent Peaceforce
• Martin Luther King Jr. — “Peace is not merely the absence of tension…”

On our F/friend’ Witness and the Testimony of Peace

Friends, the balm of Gilead is not lost to history. It is present—flowing still through Spirit, offered in Christ, and made visible wherever love overcomes fear. The question is not whether there is balm. The question is never whether we can receive it—and become it—for a world in need: That is a certainty of Experience which every being may realize through living into a Power of Life. The Balm is an omnipotent gift of peaceful Creation – given for all, equally.