Daily Devotional – June 6

Cosmology

From the beginning of time, the night sky has caused us to look up and wonder how many stars are there. How far away are they? Early astronomers thought they were just beyond our reach up in the sky and counted about 2000 stars.

Stars are so far away that we do not measure their distance from Earth in miles but in light years. The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. If you could travel at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, it would take 4.3 years to get there. One light year is about 6 trillion miles. Proxima Centauri is 4.3 light years or 25,278,089,104,689 miles away. It is much easier to say 4.3 light years. Our Milky Way is about 70,000 light years across or about 411,503,776,122,852,541 miles. Many stars in the universe seem to be billions of light years away. Psalm 103:11 (NKJV) tells us, “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.” The great distances to the stars help us understand God’s great mercy towards us. In our natural state, we are in rebellion against God and do not deserve forgiveness. Yet in God’s great mercy, He forgives the repentant sinner. How great is God’s mercy? Great enough that He was willing to die to bring us back into fellowship with Him. Just as the distance to the stars seems beyond comprehension, so there is no limit to His love for us. Step outside on a starry night and gaze at the vast distances of these stars; that is the magnitude of God’s mercy!

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

~ Psalm 103:11

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.