Jesus Our King

Hi there, and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Jesus Our King was written by Karen Pimpo. While drilling for oil in one of the sunniest and driest countries in the world, teams were shocked to uncover a huge underground system of water. So in 1983, the Great Man-Made River Project was begun, placing a system of pipes to carry the high-quality fresh water to cities where it was sorely needed.

A plaque near the project's inception states, From here flows the artery of life. The prophet Isaiah used the image of water in a desert to describe a future righteous king in Isaiah 32. As kings and rulers reigned with justice and righteousness, they would be like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

Some rulers choose to take instead of give. The mark of a God-honoring leader, however, is someone who brings shelter, refuge, refreshment, and protection. Isaiah said that the fruit of God's righteousness will be peace, for His people and its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. Isaiah's words of hope would later find fullness of meaning in Jesus, who Himself will come down from heaven, and so we will be with the Lord forever.

The Great Man-Made River is just that, made by human hands. Someday that water reservoir will be depleted, but our righteous King brings refreshment and water of life that will never run dry. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Isaiah chapter 32 verses 1 through 8. See, a king will reign in righteousness, and rulers will rule with justice. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.

The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear. No longer will the fool be called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected, for fools speak folly. Their hearts are bent on evil. They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the Lord. The hungry they leave empty, and from the thirsty they withhold water. Scoundrels use wicked methods.

They make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for bringing us peace through your perfectly righteous rule. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Tony Collier, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.