Genesis chapter 16

This is the sad story of how Sarai decided to take matters not her own hands to fulfil the promises of God and the problems that arose as a result, which are still being lived out today in the Middle East.

It is easy to decide we know best, to take matters into our own hands and try to sort things out for ourselves yet we need to have patience and to wait on God. This is often easier said than done, and I know this from personal experience as I would rather get up and do something, to sort out the problem, rather than sit back and wait.

It is a case of having faith and trusting in God no matter what is going on around us, of believing that God will fulfil whatever he promised, no matter how unlikely it may sound. And after all, since a day is as a thousand years to the Lord, that means that ten years is only 14.4 minutes…..

Genesis chapter 15

To me, these words speak volumes. After all, here is Abram who has just defeated several kings, rescued his nephew and recovered all the goods the kings had taken, and yet he is apparently afraid. He is a man who has everything going for him, and yet is still worried, upset, anxious. And God appears to him in a vision and tells him not to worry, not to be afraid for God is his shield, his very great reward.

I think this is just as true for each one of us as it was for Abram. God is our shied, our very great reward, no matter what is facing us right now. We need to be aware of Him at all times and to take everything to Him, to Jesus in prayer.

There are certain things I am facing right now and I know is would be easy to just sit and wallow in anxiety, getting all worried and upset. Yet hasn't Jesus told us to give our burdens to him?
Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

It is a case of turning everything over to him, really turning everything over, not just saying you will do it, and then taking it all back and continuing to worry. Because in doing this, we will find rest for our souls, since God is out shield and our very great reward.

Genesis chapter 14

There are several theories regarding Melchizedek, about whom very little is known (hence the theories!):

• He is a respected king of that region;
• Melchizedek may just have been a title for all kings of Salem at that time;
• He was Shem (this is from the Rabbinical teachings and since Shem died aged 600, this was, apparently, 13 years after the death of Sarah and 10 years after Rebecca and Isaac married);
• He was a type of Christ, so we can learn about Christ from the example of Melchizedek; and
• He was the earthly appearance in bodily form of the preincarnate Christ.

So I googled Melchizedek and found the following:

Melchizedek is not so much a name as it is a title or designation of honour. It is a position or office that has to be filled by a worthy candidate. The term is a transliteration of two Hebrew words, melek and tsedeq. The Hebrew melek means king and tsedeq means righteousness. Therefore, the term "melchizedek" means literally, "king of righteousness." Because a king is always preeminent in his jurisdiction, whoever Melchizedek was, he had to be preeminent in righteousness. He had to be the "king" of righteousness. (see http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/who-was-melchizedek.html)

But since no one is righteous except God (Matthew 19:17 Why do you ask me about what is good? Jesus replied, There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.), that is an indication that Melchizedek was Jesus. I mean, here is Abram, chasing after these kings, rescuing Lot, recovering all the goods that have been taken and then returning home, and he just gives away one tenth of it all to a complete stranger. What is more, the king of Salem, Melchizedek, specifically goes out to meet Abram, and does not wait for Abram to come to him.

I mean, did Abram really expect to meet anyone? After all, he was on his way back from an amazing victory, having succeeded in pulling off the impossible, and was probably longing just to get back home, have a hot bath, put his feet up and have a glass of wine (or whatever he did to relax!). Yet in the middle of nowhere a king comes out to greet him, brings him some bread and wine and then blesses him.

The cynical view is, of course, that Melchizedek had heard of all that Abram had done and did not want to be the next one of Abram's "hit list" so went out to keep the peace. But then surely if this was the case, Melchizedek would have assumed that Abram and his men were worn out from the battle and would attack them himself, not go and take bread and wine?

I think this is all symbolic of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, he is the one who created everything, and without whom was nothing made, and he does not just sit around waiting for people to turn to him. You meet Jesus in all sorts of places and through all sorts of people, often when least expected.