This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

In this seventh chapter, the writer to the Hebrews references the mysterious figure of Melchizedek. Apart from here, he is mentioned elsewhere only in Genesis 14:18-20 and Psalm 110:4. It is the Genesis account that our author is drawing on here.

We will come back later in our readings to the significance of Abraham ‘tithing’ to Melchizedek. But for today, I simply want to make the point that this was no chance meeting. It was divinely orchestrated. God brought about this encounter. Let’s try to go into each day, open to the possibility of such ‘divine appointments.’

‘Jesus…wants us to see that the neighbour next door or the people sitting next to us on a plane or in a classroom are not interruptions to our schedule. They are there by divine appointment. Jesus wants us to see their needs, their loneliness, their longings, and he wants to give us the courage to reach out to them.’ Rebecca Pippert

PRAYER: Lord God, may I ‘bump into’ people today who you want me to meet. I am available. Please use me in your purposes