A Gift with Purpose
God spoke plants, trees, flowers, and herbs into existence when He formed the earth at Creation – intricately designed botanicals carefully created with purpose (Genesis 1:29). They are useful and experiential gifts graciously given for our service (Psalm 104:14; Ezekiel 47:12).
Can you even imagine what the Garden of Eden must have smelled like with all those fragrant plants and flowers (volatile oil molecules) floating in the air?
But while God’s creation is undeniably beautiful and enjoyable, it was also created with intention. The plants and trees He created are good gifts given to mankind for His purposes. If you don’t believe me, open your Bible.
You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all… (Nehemiah 9:6)
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…(James 1:17)
Many Christians have inadvertently minimized or relinquished God’s good gift of His created provision—a gift that supports and nourishes the body He wonderfully designed.
God also gave us an immune system as one of His gracious gifts, and the plants He created complement and support that remarkable design. Synergistically, it functions to support and nurture the body’s natural efforts to do what He intended it to do all along, and that is to heal itself.
All the vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, proteins, aromatic compounds, and millions of other intricate constituents woven into plants and trees are not there by accident
They were woven into Creation by a loving Father for the benefit of His creatures.
“Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:12
These gifts work together to provide nourishment that supports every system of the body—including the immune system—to keep it all running like a well-oiled machine. God had our complete well-being in mind.
I find it ironic that so many false religions embrace the gift while rejecting the Gift-Giver, idolizing nature instead of worshiping the One who created it.
Tragically, Christians can fall into an opposite error by minimizing or dismissing God’s intentional gifts, placing all of our confidence in human wisdom instead of remembering that every good gift ultimately comes from Him. Both errors miss the point.
A good reminder to never place man’s “wisdom” above God’s.
Don’t believe me? Examine who most people instinctively turn to first when a health need arises.
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5)
The issue is not whether we seek wise counsel or medical care. Scripture affirms wisdom, and physicians can be tremendous gifts of God’s common grace. The issue is where our ultimate trust rests.
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5)
Arrogant. Futile. Anemic.
The gift of whole foods and botanicals was given to us by God for an ultimate purpose, therefore they’re good and useful, and will serve us well when used wisely and with thanksgiving.
I’m so tired of hearing people treat the aromatic oils God placed within His creation as though they were merely glorified perfumes.
If we don’t turn to God and reclaim an appreciation for His created provision, but instead place our trust in the institutions and systems of men, we will become increasingly dependent, vulnerable, and easy to manipulate and control.
“Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.” (Judges 10:14)
And if we continue to willingly choose empty, highly processed foods while placing our ultimate confidence in human ingenuity to be our “miracle makers,” we will become increasingly weaker and sicker, making it more difficult to faithfully fulfill the work God has called us to do.
Consider King Asa:
“Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. So Asa rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign.” (2 Chronicles 16:12–13)
Notice what Scripture condemns. It doesn’t simply say Asa consulted physicians. It says he did not seek the Lord. His failure was not seeking medical help—it was placing his trust there instead of crying out first to God.
Whenever we seek help from doctors—and there are many times when skilled physicians are a tremendous gift of God—we must never forget that all healing ultimately comes from the Great Physician. The over-reliance of pharmaceutical drugs, even among Christians, is downright alarming.
He may choose to heal through the body’s natural processes, through the nourishment He provides in creation, through skilled physicians, through modern medicine, or through miraculous intervention. Whatever means He chooses, all healing comes from Him. Therefore, our first response should always be to cry out to the Lord and seek His wisdom.
In 2011, when my daughter fell headfirst out of a tree onto a boulder, we rushed her to the emergency room. But on the way, we prayed and cried out to the Lord for mercy and wisdom. The first words out of my mouth were not words of hope towards a doctor—they were cries to my God.
I also applied His gifts of geranium and frankincense essential oils to her face because, in God’s providence, I had just learned only days earlier about the constituents He had woven into those two oils. But even as I reached for those gifts, my confidence was not in the oils themselves. My trust was in the Great Physician who created them.
This is one reason that, when we anoint ourselves with essential oils, we pray and ask God to answer our supplications (James 5:14). Faith, obedience, and prayer are crucial – even when using essential oils.
Whether God instructs someone to dip seven times in the Jordan (2 Kings 5:10), make clay from the dust (John 9:6–7), or anoint the sick with oil while praying, why wouldn’t we respond in faith?
Throughout Scripture we see God’s people anointing the sick and the downcast with oil. Yet even here we must be careful. Our wandering hearts are prone to place our hope in anything other than God—including the very gifts He has created.
So it came to pass…that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. (Jeremiah 3:9)
What does that sort of idolatry look like today? We often trust in the Internet, in doctors, in politicians/influencers, in pharmaceutical companies, in immunizations, and even in in the things He created in nature—gifts intended for our good, but used in a sinful way.
What does that idolatry look like today? We can place our trust in the Internet, doctors, politicians, influencers, pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, natural remedies, or even essential oils themselves. Any good gift can become an idol when it replaces the Giver.
James reminds us that if anyone is sick, the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. Scripture is wonderfully clear that God hears and answers simple prayers of faith (James 5:14-15).
God is Jehovah Jireh—our Provider. He is Jehovah Rapha—our Healer.
When we sing the doxology, we praise “God from whom all blessings flow.” James reminds us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.”
So praise God for what He has given. Live as though you truly believe in His gracious care. Study His creation.
Learn to wisely use the good gifts He has provided for yourself and your family—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Then glorify Him by receiving every gift with thanksgiving, using them to strengthen and serve others, and ultimately to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ.