Genesis 14:17-24: Melchizedek’s Blessing (Shane Mosby)
A common calling Christians share is that they are to spend their lives walking with God. It is also a common phrase to hear that God has a plan for our lives. These phrases and callings often lose their meaning to us when they are stated vaguely or without particular application. However, as we see in the story of Abram and as is evidenced in the lives of followers of Christ today, the call God has for our lives is rarely stated boldly and clearly, but that does not make it any less true. To live out God’s plan for your life is to walk with him daily.
In multiple places in the Bible, it is clearly stated that God has a plan for his people, both collectively and as individuals. The most common is in Jeremiah 29:11. Galatians 5 also highlights the importance of prayer as a means of staying in step with the Spirit, the Spirit by which we as followers of Christ are given to experience his presence and walk with him. For Abram at this point in the story, he had lived out a big step in God’s particular calling for his life, to enter into an unknown land. What he may not have known was that part of this calling would include a violent battle with Chedorlaomer and the kings of that land. Nonetheless, that is what happened, and God made Abram victorious. Adversity is a common part of following God’s calling for our lives. Some of the adversities Abram faced were external ones like famine and tyranny, but some were intimate and personal, like the barrenness of Sarai. Abram also faced failure, on account of his own decisions and actions. He intentionally misled and lied to the Egyptians about his wife’s identity in an attempt to maintain security, which ultimately led to misfortune coming about anyways. Even in this though, God still blessed him.
After all the adversities, failures, and victories, God sends in Melchizedek to the picture. Melchizedek was the king of Salem and a high priest to God. He meets Abram and offers up bread and wine, acknowledging Abram’s blessing from God, and Abram offers him a tenth of his wealth. The King of Sodom offers up wealth to Abram on account of his victories, to which Abram rejects due to the oath he took before God, further displaying his faithfulness and trust that God will maintain his promise. Just as Melchizedek reminds Abram of his blessing from God, we also must be reminded in our walks that he has blessed us through his Son. We have the good fortune of living after Jesus’ return to earth and his sacrifice and seeing that part of God’s plan. Even here a foreshadow is presented, and the writer of Hebrews expands on it in Hebrews 7, ultimately making the claim that Jesus is greater than this high priest. Just as Melchizedek brought out the bread and wine as a symbol of bountiful joy and blessing, Jesus offers up bread and wine, only he does it directly proceeding his crucifixion. This parallelism gives us a somber, powerful and hopeful idea of what the death and sacrifice of Jesus truly meant.
In our fast-paced lives we must be reminded that we need to slow down, stop, and remember. Abram did so after engaging what was most likely the most intense and stressful event he had ever encountered, but it was good, and it reminded him of God’s blessings. When we consider the calling God has for our lives, we need not burden ourselves with “figuring it out”. God has done the work, and his grace is sufficient to cover all of our shortcomings. But God wants us to live fulfilled lives in step with him and his Son, which is exactly how we come to understand his calling for our lives. Let us walk by the Spirit daily, and take rest in remembering the promises of God. We can take comfort in the truth that he has a plan for our lives, and that even in the midst of trials, our own failures and the brokenness of the world, that God will complete the work he started and stay true to his promises.
