Jesus Comes to You in Your Valley

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Genesis 14:18–20

I don’t know what valley you are in right now, but I want to share a powerful picture in the Bible that I pray will encourage you.

Every time something is mentioned in the Bible for the first time, it is always significant. Do you know where you find the bread and the wine of the Communion mentioned together for the first time? It’s there in today’s scriptures.

Who is Melchizedek? The Bible tells us that our Lord Jesus is “a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 7:17). Many scholars believe he is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. But it is clear that Melchizedek is a type of Christ.

Melchizedek was the king of Salem, which means “peace.” But Salem means much more than peace. It also means “complete, safe, perfect, whole, and full.”

Melchizedek met Abram in the Valley of Shaveh, or the King’s Valley (Gen. 14:17). The King’s Valley is actually in the Kidron Valley. Kidron in Hebrew is from the word qadar, which means “darkness.”

Melchizedek wasn’t the only person present with Abram. Bera, the king of Sodom, went out to meet Abram before Melchizedek arrived (Gen. 14:2, 17). Bera’s name in Hebrew means “son of evil.”

I gave you all that background because I want you to see this: when you are in a place of darkness, your Lord Jesus comes to you, bearing bread and wine.

You might be asking, “Won’t the Communion become something legalistic that I have to do?” Not if you see yourself receiving the bread and the wine from the Lord Jesus Himself. The Communion is not something that you do; you receive the Communion just as Abram did.

In your time of darkness, don’t forget that the Lord has given you the Communion as a tangible, practical way of remembering all He has done for you and encountering His love. You don’t have to handle the situation all by yourself. The Lord is with you, and He wants you to bring Him every fear and every worry. Talk to Him.

Whenever I am afraid I like to sing the words from the psalms of David to strengthen myself in the Lord. May you be filled with His strength as you meditate on and worship Him with these words from the psalmist:

You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance . . . Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

This devotional is taken from the book The Healing Power of the Holy Communion—A 90-Day Devotional.