Listening Beyond the Stars

<p>Imagine life without mobile phones, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth devices, or microwave ovens. That&rsquo;s the way it is in the little town of Green Bank, West Virginia, known as &ldquo;the quietest town in America.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s also the location of the Green Bank Observatory, the world&rsquo;s largest steerable radio telescope. The telescope needs &ldquo;quiet&rdquo; to &ldquo;listen&rdquo; to naturally occurring radio waves emitted by the movement of pulsars and galaxies in deep space. It has a surface area larger than a football field and stands in the center of the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000-square-mile area established to prevent electronic interference to the telescope&rsquo;s extreme sensitivity.</p> <p>This intentional quiet enables scientists to hear &ldquo;the music of the spheres.&rdquo; It also reminds me of our need to quiet ourselves enough to listen to the One who created the universe. God communicated to a wayward and distracted people through the prophet Isaiah, &ldquo;Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you&rdquo; (Isaiah 55:3). God promises His faithful love to all who will seek Him and turn to Him for forgiveness.</p> <p>We listen intentionally to God by turning from our distractions long enough to meet Him in Scripture and in prayer. God isn&rsquo;t distant. He longs for us to make time for Him so He can be the priority of our daily lives and then for eternity. </p>