MM SHORTS: 16 of 16 “How Often?”

“HOW OFTEN?”

MM Shorts (16th of 16)

Psalm 139:17-18

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

This is episode is #16 of 16 in the Mighty Moment series "Mighty Moment Shorts" and is entitled “How Often?”. Are there more stars in the universe or grains of sand on Earth’s beaches? This episode dives into awe-inspiring numbers to put the vastness and intricacy of creation into perspective. Get ready for mind-blowing cosmic comparisons that will make you see the universe — and a single atom — in a whole new light.

SERIES DESCRIPTION

“Mighty Moment Shorts” are brief 5-8 minute devotional thoughts.  These 16 episodes were the very first episodes of “Mighty Moment” before the current 14 ½ - minute format.  You will also notice the style is different with music playing in the background.

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EPISODE RESOURCES

Episode Bible Study Guide

[Not Available for this Episode]

Episode Transcript

https://mightymoment.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/MM_01_01_016-How-Often-SH-16-of-16-TRANSCRIPT.pdf

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MIGHTY  MOMENT

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FILE: MM_01_01_016

© Mighty Moment 2021

Chapters

• 0:00 -- Mighty Moment Song
• 0:29 -- Announcer Greeting
• 1:07 TITLE: "How Often?"
• 1:10 Which is Greater?
• 1:42 Stars vs. Sand
• 2:30 The Atom
• 3:37 How Precious?
• 4:14 The Number Breakdown
• 4:51 God's Thoughts
• 5:20 Be Encouraged
• 5:52 -- Announcer Close
• 6:22 -- Mighty Moment Song

Transcript

“HOW OFTEN?”

#16 of 16

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“Mighty Moment Shorts”

Podcast Series

Episode #16 of 16

A “Mighty Moment” Podcast Series

by

Dr. Bobby J. Boles

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OFFICIAL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

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TITLE: “HOW OFTEN?” (1:07)

WHICH IS GREATER? (1:10)

How often? So which is greater the number of stars in the universe or the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth? This is an old and oft debated question among scientists and astronomers. We're going to take a stab at answering the question in this episode. In our previous Mighty Moment episode, season 1, episode 15, we discussed the great vastness of God's universe and we learned that it is estimated there are one septillion that's one with 24 zeros one septillion stars in the visible or known universe. 

STARS VS. SAND (1:42)

So in answering today's question, we ponder which are there more of stars in the universe or grains of sand on the beaches? By asking the question, we again are endeavoring to put some context to the size of God's universe. So how does the number of stars compare with the grains of sand on the collective beaches of our entire planet? According to Dr Jason Marshall, aka the math dude, there are two and a half to ten sextillion grains of sand on all the world's beaches. So it's a close race between stars and grains of sand. But probably there are more stars than grains of sand. It is hard to put our mind around that type of number. God's universe is incredibly humongous.

THE ATOM (2:30)

Let's pause now and go the other direction to discuss how minute God's creation is. You may be surprised that God's creation is incredible in both directions its greatness and its smallness. Let me explain. As you probably learned in high school, atoms comprise everything. They are the building blocks of all that exist. They are extremely small. You might say, yeah, I know they're small, but do you realize just how small they are? An atom's size can be explained this way. How many atoms do you think are in a grapefruit? Well, to answer, imagine that the grapefruit is the size of Earth and the atoms filling it are the size of blueberries. If you filled the Earth with blueberries, that would be a good estimate of the number of atoms in a grapefruit. Wow, that is amazing. God's creation is so intricate and detailed, even down to the basic building block.

HOW PRECIOUS? (3:37)

The Bible says, “how precious also are your thoughts of me, O God. How great is the sum of them? If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand. (Psalm 139:17-18). David here is expressing an awesome aspect of God's character His love and care for each of us. God is thinking of you, so much so that His thoughts of you are more than the grains of sand in the world, which we just learned was almost as many stars in the visible universe in the sextillions.

THE NUMBER BREAKDOWN (4:14)

So here's the breakdown for atoms, grains of sand and stars. Number of atoms in one grain of sand… 50 quintillion, that's fifty, with 18 zeros after it. Number of grains of sand on the beaches of Earth… ten sextillion, that's ten, with 21 zeros after it. Stars in the known universe… one septillion, one with 24 zeros following it. Either way you count it, these numbers are huge.

GOD’S THOUGHTS (4:51)

So if you catch yourself wondering if anyone loves you or if anyone's thinking about you, or perhaps you're tempted to think God does not have you on his mind and doesn't care about your problems, remember that God is in fact thinking about you a lot and, according to the Bible, if you were to try and quantify how many thoughts God has of you, it would be as many thoughts as grains of sand which, as we just demonstrated, is a very huge number. 

BE ENCOURAGED (5:20)

Be encouraged, my friend. You are not alone, you have not been abandoned. God is with you, God loves you and God is thinking of you. God is longing for the day very soon to make all things new, and we will be with Him forever, but until that point you can be assured that you're on His mind. So how often does God think of you? Count the grains of sand to get a hint.