04/04/2026
The beauty of discovering
The magnificient creations of God ::
(Isa. 40:21–26 NIV)
God created the heavens with His hands by stretching out the universe like a
canopy. And He was able to measure the universe with the span of His hand (Isa.
40:12)! Think of it—from His thumb to His pinkie, He measured the width,
length, and depth of the universe!
Have you ever pondered the size of the universe? It is beyond your mental
capacities. Maybe if we attempt to catch a glimpse of the vastness of the
universe, we’ll come closer to a peek at His glory. Scientists estimate that there
are billions of galaxies in the universe, with each containing billions of stars.
The sizes of these galaxies are quite small compared to the space that exists
between them.
Our sun is located in one of these galaxies.
When you look out into the sky at
night, you are not seeing a picture of the entire universe— just the wee galaxy in
which we live, called the Milky Way. And you see only a portion of it, for most
of the stars in our tiny galaxy are too far away to be seen with the naked eye.
So let’s begin with just the galaxy we live in. The closest star to our earth—
other than our sun—is 4.3 light-years away. You may be thinking, What is a
light-year? It is simply the distance light travels in one year. Light travels at the
speed of 186,282 miles per second. That is roughly 670,000,000 miles per hour.
Compare that to the speed of airplanes, which fly approximately 500 miles per
hour. As you can see, light is very fast!
To give you an idea of how fast, let’s assume you could fly a jumbo jet to the
sun. When I fly to Asia, which is on the other side of the earth from where I live,
it takes me approximately twenty-three hours. If I took that same plane on a
nonstop flight to our sun, it would take roughly twenty-one years! Think of how
long ago twenty-one years was. Think of all that time. Now imagine spending it
all on an airplane just to get to our own sun. For those who prefer driving, it
would take about two hundred years, not including gas or rest stops. How long
does it take for light to travel to the earth? The answer is a mere eight minutes
and twenty seconds.
Let’s leave the sun and consider the nearest star. We already know it is 4.3
light-years from the earth. If we built a scale model of the earth, sun, and nearest star, and made our earth the size of a pepper corn, the sun would be the size of an eight-inch-diameter ball.
According to this size scale, the distance from the earth, we’ll come closer to a peek at His glory.
Scientists estimate that there are billions of galaxies in the universe, with each containing billions of stars.
The sizes of these galaxies are quite small compared to the space that exists between them.
Our sun is located in one of these galaxies.
When you look out into the sky at night, you are not seeing a picture of the entire universe— just the wee galaxy in which we live, called the Milky Way.
And you see only a portion of it, for most
of the stars in our tiny galaxy are too far away to be seen with the naked eye. So let’s begin with just the galaxy we live in. The closest star to our earth—
other than our sun—is 4.3 light-years away. You may be thinking, What is a
light-year? It is simply the distance light travels in one year.
Light travels at the speed of 186,282 miles per second. That is roughly 670,000,000 miles per hour.
Compare that to the speed of airplanes, which fly approximately 500 miles per hour. As you can see, light is very fast!
To give you an idea of how fast, let’s assume you could fly a jumbo jet to the sun. When I fly to Asia, which is on the other side of the earth from where I live,
it takes me approximately twenty-three hours. If I took that same plane on a
nonstop flight to our sun, it would take roughly twenty-one years! Think of how long ago twenty-one years was. Think of all that time.
Now imagine spending it
all on an airplane just to get to our own sun. For those who prefer driving, it would take about two hundred years, not including gas or rest stops. How long
does it take for light to travel to the earth? The answer is a mere eight minutes and twenty seconds.
Let’s leave the sun and consider the nearest star. We already know it is 4.3
light-years from the earth. If we built a scale model of the earth, sun, and nearest star, and made our earth the size of a peppercorn, the sun would be the size of an
eight-inch-diameter ball.
According to this size scale, the distance from the earth
