To the naked eye, there are about 3-4,000 stars that can be seen on a clear, dark night. With a good pair of binoculars, that number rises to around 200,000. With a small personal telescope about 15,000,000 are visible. To the eyes of God, every one of the estimated 1 septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) stars is visible.
According to Psalm 147, Jehovah does not have an estimated number of the stars; He has the exact number, for “He counts the number of the stars” (v. 4). For we who stagger at trying to fathom the United States’ national debt (of over 23,000,000,000,000/23 trillion or 23 million x 1 million dollars), the thought of a number 40 billion times bigger than the national debt is way above our pay scale!
But this is not all that Psalm 147:4 declares about God and the stars. Not only does He count them, He “also calls them all by name”. Like every human in history whose name and every thought, word, and action He knows, He also has personally named every star and remembers every name!
How great Thou art!
