Genesis 14: Recognizing God’s Blessing

¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, ¹⁹ and he blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
²⁰ And praise be to God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

-Genesis 14:18-20

Abram had experience a rough battle. His nephew Lot and Lot’s family had been taken captive by an opposing king. In response, Abram gathered warriors aligned with him and walked into battle. His team dominated, returning with Lot, his family, and the rest of those taken captive during the battle, along with their possessions.

When Abram returned, he was met by the king of Salem named Melchizedek. He apparently followed the same God as Abram and recognized clearly–Abram’s victory was a blessing of God.

The king gave Abram a blessing and Abram responded by giving him a tenth “of everything.” This principle would later return in the Mosaic Law as the tithe to the Levites, but here the focus was on the blessing.

Do we recognize God’s blessings upon our lives? When something goes right, are we quick to acknowledge God as the One who grants favor? Let us praise God, not ourselves, when life’s blessings fill our lives today.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.