Lay on a blanket in the backyard at night. On a clear, moonless night, a thousand or more stars are visible.

Five of our solar system’s eight planets, a few star clusters, a spiral galaxy and the odd bright comet are visible too. (Depending on the age level of your kids, Google “stargazing” for more tips.)

With the advent of telescopes, very many previously unknown stars were discovered. Galileo using his homemade telescope saw a ten-fold increase in the number of visible stars, up to 30,000.

Today the local Milky Way galaxy (of which our sun is a part) has been found to contain 200,000 million stars. What an astounding result! If somebody could count three stars per second, after 100 years he would have counted less than five percent of this number.

The total number of stars in the observable universe is estimated to be 1.025x10^22 (1 followed by 25 zeros). Nobody knows the actual number.  (Go to www.answersingenesis.org for more amazing star facts.)

Ask: “Who made the stars?” (God - read Genesis 1:16)

Psalm 147:4 says that God knows the number of the stars, and He calls them all by their names.

In Psalm 8:3, David said, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; what is man, that you are mindful of him?”

David was saying that he could not believe that a God so powerful and able to create the stars and the heavens could care about every man. But that is just what God does. He loves every one of His creations including every star and every person. Discuss that love with your child. Tell them you love them so much as well, but God loves them even more than that! Wow! What a wonderful, powerful and loving God we have!

Say a prayer of praise to God for His great wisdom, power and love in creating the stars and you.

Adapted from “Splink” family devotion.