Blown Away

 Psalm 147:4  He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. 

I prayed this verse to my heavenly Father this morning, and it blew me away. It is one short and relatively simple sentence. Fifteens English words and but five in Hebrew, yet it blew me away!

"What's the big deal?" you ask. The big deal is what this sentence means. The first thought that came to my puny mind was, "What? He names ALL of the stars?!" How long would that take? 

So, I asked Google, "How long would it take to count to a billion, one second for each number?" Talk about a dumb question! I known, "There are no dumb questions." O really?

Ask your kid's teacher. Or your wife, for that matter!

The answer came back, "One billion seconds. DUH!" The "DUH" part wasn't there, but I know that Google was thinking that. 

Of course, what I meant to say was, "How long would it take, counting at a rate of one second per number, to count to a billion?" The answer would still be a billion seconds. But do you know how long that would be in days or months? Neither did I. 

You are counting to one billion at a rate of one number per second. Which, by the way, would be quite a challenge with a number like 2,658,438 or 163,473,942. Or how about, never mind. You get the point. Counting at a rate of one number per second would be an impossible feat in itself. But let's imagine, for illustration's sake, you are whipping through the old numbers at a rate of one per second. If you don't take a break, no lunch, dinner, potty, not even any sleep, it would take you thirty-one point seven YEARS to count from one to one billion!! "What?! That's impossible!" Do the math. One number every second from one to one billion = 31.688 years.

So, let's be honest. We have to take a break now and then. Sleep is essential to good health, especially if you're talking thirty-one years with none! So, with rest and meals and a break now and then, it would take you SIXTY-TWO years to count that bad boy number!

I am talking "counting" to one billion. I am saying nothing about naming, creating, and sustaining each of those stars. I am also talking ONE silly billion and not the SEPTILLION (the number 1 followed by 24 zeros) stars that astronomers estimate in our universe. Why, all of a sudden, am I putting so much credibility in astronomers? I am not, necessarily, but for now, let's let them have a say. 

Back to Psalm 147 and verse 4. In a velocity faster than "one second per word," we can read those fifteen English words through it in just five seconds. The concept, however,  that these fifteen words present is unfathomable. At least by my measly mind

God knows each star. He created each star. He named each star. He sustains each star in its particular galaxy. AND THERE IS A SEPTILLION OF THEM!

I was praying this psalm to my LORD, and it kicked me in the gut! God is AWESOME! Unfathomably AWESOME!! And he observes my every step. INCREDIBLE.