Bedouin (nomadic desert dwellers) typically selected a place to camp where the Broom Tree grew in order to be sheltered from the wind at night; it also provided them shelter from the sun during the day. It is this same shrub under which the prophet Elijah laid down and slept for protection (1 Kings 19:4).

While the Broom Tree has provided protection through the ages for those in the desert, we Christians can seek His protection in our daily lives. The Apostle Paul writes in his second letter to Thessalonica:

²And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. ³ But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. - 2 Thessalonians 3:2-3 (NIV)

Jesus Christ offers more protection than any desert shrub can offer. In the Gospel of John, Jesus prayed for His Disciples saying:

⁹I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. - John 17:9-12 (NIV)

Jesus also tells us in Mark 5 "Do not fear, only believe", so it is my prayer for all of you that when confronted with fear, that you turn first to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and believe!

In His service,

¹Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ²So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."

³Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, ⁴while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD ," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." ⁵Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." ⁶He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

⁷The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." ⁸So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹There he went into a cave and spent the night.