Listening Beyond the Stars By: James Banks
Oct 18, 2020 16:50:22 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2020 16:50:22 GMT -5
Listening Beyond the Stars By: James Banks
Click on this link for the audio message
Seek the Lord while he may be found.
Isaiah 55:6
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 55:1–7
Imagine life without mobile phones, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth devices, or microwave ovens. That’s the way it is in the little town of Green Bank, West Virginia, known as “the quietest town in America.” It’s also the location of the Green Bank Observatory, the world’s largest steerable radio telescope. The telescope needs “quiet” to “listen” 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’s extreme sensitivity.
This intentional quiet enables scientists to hear “the music of the spheres.” 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, “Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you” (Isaiah 55:3). God promises His faithful love to all who will seek Him and turn to Him for forgiveness.
We listen intentionally to God by turning from our distractions to meet Him in Scripture and in prayer. God isn’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.
Reflect & Pray
Why is listening to God so vital in your life? In what ways do you plan to take time for Him?
Help me to be quiet before You today, loving God, even if it’s only for a moment! Nothing matters more than being with You!
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Having one’s thirst quenched and being satisfied with fine food are metaphors for the blessings that will flow from God’s covenant with David. We share in these blessings through Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who fulfilled God’s promise to David of an eternal dynasty through his descendant (2 Samuel 7:12-16). Through David and his descendant—Jesus—God would give an endless “witness” to the world that Yahweh is “the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 55:4-5). The church is later described as such a witness (Acts 1:8). Con Campbell
Isaiah 55:1-7
King James Version
55 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Click on this link for the audio message
Seek the Lord while he may be found.
Isaiah 55:6
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Isaiah 55:1–7
Imagine life without mobile phones, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth devices, or microwave ovens. That’s the way it is in the little town of Green Bank, West Virginia, known as “the quietest town in America.” It’s also the location of the Green Bank Observatory, the world’s largest steerable radio telescope. The telescope needs “quiet” to “listen” 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’s extreme sensitivity.
This intentional quiet enables scientists to hear “the music of the spheres.” 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, “Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you” (Isaiah 55:3). God promises His faithful love to all who will seek Him and turn to Him for forgiveness.
We listen intentionally to God by turning from our distractions to meet Him in Scripture and in prayer. God isn’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.
Reflect & Pray
Why is listening to God so vital in your life? In what ways do you plan to take time for Him?
Help me to be quiet before You today, loving God, even if it’s only for a moment! Nothing matters more than being with You!
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Having one’s thirst quenched and being satisfied with fine food are metaphors for the blessings that will flow from God’s covenant with David. We share in these blessings through Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who fulfilled God’s promise to David of an eternal dynasty through his descendant (2 Samuel 7:12-16). Through David and his descendant—Jesus—God would give an endless “witness” to the world that Yahweh is “the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 55:4-5). The church is later described as such a witness (Acts 1:8). Con Campbell
Isaiah 55:1-7
King James Version
55 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.