I can’t remember when I first became interested in numbers.
I do know that learning such things as the “times” tables was never a problem for me. I had them down in short order. I think that it was easy for me to see the “order” and patterns in number sequences so learning the multiplication tables happened pretty quickly and easier for me than for others. Part of the easy probably happened because I had learned to count by 2’s and 3’s doing one of my daily chores as a kid. The eggs of about 300 chickens had to be picked up and a record kept of how many I gathered. My hand could easily pick up 2 or 3 eggs at a time, so it was easy to count by 2 or by 3! Back when I was a grade school student, we had teachers who were fond of drills. We were often handed a sheet of 100 simple addition problems or subtraction or multiplication and eventually division problems.100 problems to answer against the stopwatch. The goal was to complete the page correctly in under 3 minutes. While many had a great dislike for this drill, I found it interesting trying to compete against myself trying for a higher score each time. Can you picture in your mind the shepherd counting his sheep and discovering the one missing one that he went in search of? He had to count them each night as they entered the fold. I wonder, did he also count by 2’s or 3’s or maybe by 5’s! However he counted, he was determined to have his number reach the even whole number of 100! He cared!
In today’s news and headlines there are often numbers used as part of the news. There are a large number of acres burned in wildfires this year. Nationwide, over 3.6 million acres have burned by nearly 40,000 wildfires in the United States so far in 2026. This marks one of the most destructive starts to a season in the last decade, with almost a million more acres burned than the 10-year average for mid-July. If you have the chance to drive where there has been a wildfire, those acres take on a new meaning beyond the hearing of the news. Driving miles and miles through nothing but black burned up grass and black skeletons of now dead trees always makes me sad. We have driven through acres and acres of still smothering areas and the smoke of those burned trees drifting across the road. We have driven parallel to flying planes fighting the fires by dumping fire retardant. I really hate to see the devastation of the large burned areas. I am always reminded that someday God will set fire to this earth and make the earth new again. It will become beautiful when He is finished. I can hardly wait for the made new again! What a wonderful day that will be when there is no evidence of sin left for us to be sad over!
I like this story: It happened in a college class in the late 1970s, or what I like to recall as The Stoned Age. Our math professor gave the students an option: write a term paper or—as an alternative—gather all the students in the class together (there were 26) and collectively make a billion chicken scratches on pieces of paper. If we could successfully pull it off, we’d all get an A. My classmates thought the latter was a great idea, and one night a week before the paper was due, a half-dozen of us started making scratches. We made it up to 1.7 million of them over the course of four days, as I recall, before we gave up—well under one percent of the total needed. The professor had made his point:
a billion is a really really really big number. We figured out that if we were to make a scratch on paper every second, it would take 31.7 years. That’s with no sleep, no breaks, no eating, no bathroom visits. Just eternal scribbling. Similarly, it would take you nearly 32 years to spend a billion dollars if you plunked down a buck every single second, a rate of $86,400. Every. Single. Day. (Spending $1 trillion would take more than 31,000 years.) I bring this up now to drive home the point that $1 billion is an insane amount of money. We don’t often consider that it’s a thousand million. That much money could fund between 50,000 and 65,000 students for an entire school year in a typical American public school—or, alternatively, one White House ballroom.by Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA. With one billion dollars, you can generate an endless financial safety net, fund massive philanthropic campaigns, or buy roughly 400 top-tier McDonald’s franchises, up to 31 ultra-rare Rolls Royce Drop Tails, or even an entire European football club. On a macro-level, you would have the financial power to eradicate medical debt for tens of thousands of families, retrofit children’s hospitals, or fund entirely new scientific and educational infrastructure. On the other hand, you could directly finance major public services, such as paying for free school lunches for a year in a large state.
When I was teaching Kindergarten and Primary children, I always tried to illustrate various lesson points with visual items. One day I thought it would be a good idea to show visually how many people that Moses led out of Egypt and into the desert. One Friday night I attempted to make hashtag marks for the number. You know, 4 marks and a slash to make the number five! I soon learned that it was a project that needed more time than I gave it. In the Book of Numbers, the Bible records the number of adult male Israelites of fighting age as 603,550. When factoring in women, children, and the elderly, historians and theologians estimate the total population that left Egypt ranged from 2 to 3 million. I finally did finish the project, but I needed many pages with those hash marks completely filled across the page and the full-page length. I don’t recall how many I marked on each page—eventually I figured out that I could just photocopy the first page enough times to get to that 3 million. I had many pages to show the kids. It was impressive what Moses and God did out there in the desert!
The most notable big numbers dominating today’s headlines span from a $39 trillion federal debt obligation to a massive $95 billion legislative package for foreign military aid/Iran, election issues, and domestic farm aid programs. Just listen to the news for the numbers being discussed. Most of them are so large that they are hard to comprehend.
The number of tornadoes Illinois has recorded so far in 2026 is 148, which officially breaks the state’s previous all-time annual record of 142 (set in 2024) with half the year still remaining. We know that weather events will become more numerous and more frequent and more destructive as time goes on, getting closer and closer to the day Jesus returns to earth. It reminds me of how devastated Egypt was after the plagues were imposed on them for rejecting God. Weather events are very much to be feared and respected. When today’s headlines highlight massive numbers—whether staggering financial figures, global climate statistics, or vast population counts—it is easy to feel overwhelmed, seeing only human insignificance or material anxiety.
Instead, we can view these figures as a reflection of God’s infinite scale. Think of how Scripture contrasts the limits of human measurement with the limitless nature of the Creator: “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name” (Psalm 147:4). The billions or trillions referenced in economics and science are nothing compared to the vastness of the universe God continuously upholds. “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Luke 12:7). God is not a distant observer overwhelmed by large crowds or data; rather, His care is incredibly personal and intimate, intimately knowing every individual within that massive count. In Revelation 7:9, John describes a vision of “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language”. This reminds me that God’s ultimate plan goes way beyond geopolitical numbers and statistics, gathering every soul into a unified, eternal family. When the news cycle overwhelms you with giant numbers, let it be a catalyst to change your perspective. The sheer magnitude of creation highlights a Creator whose power is beyond human calculation, yet whose love is focused entirely on you.
There are a lot of big numbers in the world. Americans spend $300,000,000 per day on clothes. The human body contains 70,000 miles of blood vessels. And the earth weighs approximately 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons! Numbers are fascinating, and people enjoy counting things. For instance, more than 15,000,000,000 prizes have been given away in Cracker Jack’s boxes. People have about 100,000 hairs growing on their heads (some of us have a few less!). There are 31,536,000 seconds in a year. And there are about 8,000,000 words in the English language.
The largest number in the English language with a word naming it is googolplex. This number is equal to 10 to the power of a googol, which would be written as 1 followed by 10100 zeroes. There are fewer particles in the entire universe than this huge number. The words “googol” and “googolplex” were both suggested in the 1930s by the nine-year-old nephew of mathematician Dr. Edward Kasner. As technology has increased, the methods of “people counting” has also become more sophisticated. Pointing at people as they walk by was replaced with handheld tally counters to count people. Now you can use infrared beams, computer vision, thermal imaging, and even synthetic intelligence to count people. According to the Bible, King David was tempted to count people when it was not the Lord’s will. “Now Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel” (1 Chronicles 21:1). It appears David felt threatened by a military opponent, and instead of consulting with God, he counted the size of his army. Even Joab, his commanding officer, didn’t like the idea.
The highest number verbally counted out loud is 1,070,000, achieved by Favour Ogechi Ani in Nigeria. She completed this feat in December 2025 over 70 consecutive days, on YouTube. The previous record was held by Jeremy Harper of Birmingham Alabama, who counted to 1,000,000 over 89 days in 2007. We can be tempted to count out big numbers to make ourselves look better than we are. It can lead us to trust in our own power, our own money, or our own things instead of realizing that our numbers will never add up to what God can provide. You can count on the Lord!
The average human head has about 90,000 to 150,000 hairs. The exact count depends heavily on genetics and natural hair color: Because each hair goes through a natural cycle of growth, rest, and shedding, it is perfectly normal to lose about 50 to 100 hairs every day. Blondes–150,000, brown haired—110,000, black haired—100,000, red haired—90,000. In addition, we all have 25,000 body hairs, 420 eyelashes, 600 eyebrow hairs. And approximately 150,000 scalp hairs. I’m glad I don’t have to keep track of each one of those hairs every day. Based on Luke 12:7 (NIV), “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered (by God!). Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows,” this comforting promise reminds us that God is intimately acquainted with the finest details of your life. He knows you so completely that His care for you is boundless.
While estimating the number of hairs on a human head is virtually impossible for us, it requires zero effort for an infinite Creator. This truth offers three profound perspectives for your daily faith: God pays attention to the small things: If the Lord cares about something as seemingly insignificant as your hair count, He is certainly aware of your daily struggles, anxieties, and triumphs, Each happening in your life is counted by God as important! Even if it seems insignificant to you, it isn’t to God!
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. Revelation 7:9 KJV And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. Luke 12:7 NLT and in the Berean Standard Bible—And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
No one can fathom the distances that God placed in the universe. I consider them God numbers. Only the Master of the Universe could even conceive of these numbers and distances. And these numbers are only for our small corner of this great Cosmos/Universe. There are even greater and grander numbers when you venture out of our galaxy. Planetary distances in our solar system are typically measured from the Sun, the average distance from Earth to the Sun, about 93 million miles. The average distance from the Sun to each planet is as follows: Mercury: 36 million miles. Venus: 67 million miles. Earth: 93 million miles. Mars: 142 million miles. Jupiter: 484 million miles. Saturn: 889 million miles. Uranus: 1.8 billion miles. Neptune: 2.8 billion miles. When you feel overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the universe or the staggering weight of big numbers, remember this: the God who numbers the trillions of stars in the night sky (Psalm 147:4) is the exact same God who knows the number of hairs on your head. He manages the infinite without ever losing sight of the intimate.
Astronomers estimate there are up to 20 sextillion stars in the observable universe. But Isaiah 40:26 reminds us that God calls them all by their names. To Him, big numbers aren’t impersonal statistics; they are a canvas of His creativity. If the Creator of the cosmos keeps perfect track of billions of galaxies, it means He is also intimately involved in the specific details of your life. Your prayers, struggles, and joys aren’t lost in the vastness of humanity—they are individually cherished by a God of infinite capacity. When the world’s problems or the size of your tasks seem too daunting to calculate, reflect on how God operates. He often does His most profound work using “small” numbers: 5 loaves and 2 fish fed 5,000 people. 12 disciples changed the course of history. 1 Jewish girl gave birth to our Redeemer and Savior. Let the magnitude of big numbers shift your perspective from worry to worship. You are held by a God whose power has no limit, yet whose love for you is equally infinite.
Sometimes when sleep doesn’t come for me when I want to be sleeping, I try counting at night as far as I can get. I try to count without letting my mind wander. It doesn’t happen. I cannot keep on track. Then I lose where I was and the whole plan must be started over or else just give up. I am so glad that God never gives up. He is happy to count and count and count the numbers of people that He is planning on having living in Heaven.
God loves large numbers!!!!!