Where In The  Bible Will I Find: The Saddest Words Of All?  By:  Gary Colley Date:  January 26, 2003 Past/Future Articles

We dwell at times on the happiest days of our life in which we may mention graduation from school, our first new car, our marriage, the birth of a child or grandchild, or other important occasions to us.  Few however think for long about the saddest words of all.  We shy away from words like sickness, death, cancer, and divorce.   These should be and are dreaded words of sorrow.  Although these are indeed sad words, they are not the saddest words of all!  Those words expressed by Jeremiah in the eighth chapter of the book by his name, are some of the saddest words known to man: “the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jer.8:20).  The weeping prophet realizes the death noel of his beloved people Israel.  Though God had been gracious in sending His Word and His prophets (preachers) such as Jeremiah to proclaim the message by which they could be saved, false prophets (preachers) had convinced them to reject the Word of the Lord and wisdom (Jer.8:9).  They had heard these false ones proclaim “Peace, peace” (:11), but Jeremiah adds, “when there is no peace!”  He pictures the desire of returning to God as coming too late, when he said, “We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!” (:15).   Jeremiah says of himself in his sorrow over their lost condition, “Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?  Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? (:22).  Hence the sad words of his conclusion, “the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”Are these warnings not ringing in the ears of many today?  The grace of God is offered in the Gospel (Eph.2:8-10), but to many they had rather hear the “smooth speeches” of the false prophets!   The Lord makes it clear that He has built His church (Matt.16:18), has bought His church with His blood (Acts 20:28), invited all to come (Matt.11:28-30), and assures us that He is the Savior of His body and no other (Eph.1:22-23; 4:4; 5:23), and yet many prefer their way to the Lord’s Way (Jn.14:6), and will not enter His church for their salvation (Acts 2:38-47).  There is a Great Physician operating through His Word in the world today (Matt.9:10-12), but many are rejecting his prescription of faith, repentance, confession, and baptism for the remission of sins for their salvation (Acts 4:12; Col.2:12).   There is a balm in Gilead that can heal the sin sick soul, but many are not applying the Word to their wounds of sin!  With all of this before our minds, how peculiar that many now ask, “why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” (:22).  And these, eternally, are the saddest words of all! --Gary Colley