“Instead someone testified somewhere: ‘What is man that you think of him or the son of man that you care for him? You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned him with glory and honor'” (Hebrews 2:6-7).
The verses quoted above tell us, “there is a place where someone has testified…” (NIV). That place is found in Psalm chapter eight. While Hebrews 2:6-7 offers an abbreviated quote that references Psalm 8:4 alone, a more complete excerpt from that chapter reads as follows…
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4 NIV).
This draws our attention to the enormity of God’s creative work throughout the universe. To illustrate the size of that expanse, let’s imagine that we could drive across the heavens much like we might drive an automobile across town. If we could do so, our distance would not be measured in miles or kilometers, but in light-years, the distance traveled by light in one year at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 km/s).
If we began our journey at the speed of light with earth as our starting point, it would take approximately seven light-hours to move beyond our solar system. Our interstellar voyage would then continue through the Milky Way galaxy that serves as home to our solar system.
The closest celestial neighbor on our tour would be Alpha Centauri, a triple-star system that is situated a little over four light-years from our sun. These are just a few of the estimated 100 billion stars that inhabit the Milky Way. If we were to visit one of these stars every hour on our journey, it would take over 12 million years to see each one.
If we continued beyond the Milky Way, we would encounter other galaxies, each with its own collection of billions of stars. In fact, astronomers estimate there are over 100 billion major galaxies within range of current telescope technology. If that figure is accurate, it means that the total number of stars in the known universe is 10/26 power, or one hundred million, billion, billion stars.
The breathtaking magnitude of the universe should thus prompt us to exclaim along with the Psalmist, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”