I learned about our solar system, our galaxy and the universe in school. I was taught that the universe originated billions of years ago in an unimaginably huge explosion called the Big Bang and that the stars, the planets and everything else that exists came into being at that time.

Sizing up the universe

When being taught about the supposed origins of the universe, we were also taught about the size of it and the things within it. Nobody can say for certain how large the universe is, but scientists currently estimate it to be at least 30 billion light years across. A light year measures the vast distance that light will travel in a year.

It can be very easy to hear statements such as "the earth is approximately 150,000,000 kilometers from the sun"or"the nearest star to earth (Proxima Centauri) is 38,000,000,000,000 kilometers away," and give it little thought. Realistically, numbers of this size mean little to the human mind.

Equally, numbers on a small scale also mean little to us. Can you really comprehend how small an atom is? It is 0.000000001 meter across, and subatomic particles are even smaller!

God measures the universe

Just from these few examples we can see that the size of the universe and the things within it are incredible! We can't even comprehend the units needed to measure most of the things within it.

Yet God can comprehend them, because He designed everything from the smallest to the greatest. King David writes that "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1).

The heavens are something we can admire, but they are not something we can come close to fully understanding.

The biggest known star in our galaxy is VY Canis Majoris and is estimated to be 1,800 times bigger than our sun. That means if the earth were to be represented by a little marble 1 centimeter across, our sun would be a large ball 109 centimeters across and VY Canis Majoris would be a huge sphere 1.9 kilometers across! The size of this star is truly amazing to us, but there are billions of stars in the universe, and "He [God] counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name" (Psalm 147:4).

You are like a star

God knows every star so well that He names them. But God, who is so powerful that He created a universe so vast and complex we can only see the merest fraction of it, also cares about each one of us.

King David was clearly struck by the wonder of the creation as well. He could see the stars in the sky and the wonders of nature around him and was driven to ask, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?" (Psalm 8:4).

Humankind and human life is precious to God. He knows each star by name just as He knows each of us by name. He knows you so well that "the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:30).

We were all created for a purpose, and the power and majesty of He who created us can be seen around us in His vast, wondrous creation. VT