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 freshwater 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,

...