“God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,
the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall
call me from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3:15)
In the 21st century people are busy…really busy…terribly
busy and it’s not an easy life to manage. Where do many people turn to for information, advice and
comfort in this modern age?
The internet.
Have you ever had a problem, worry or question and your
response is to lurch for your laptop, snag your smartphone or tap on your
tablet to search online for the solution? I know I often have, and whilst I can
get information and opinion from the internet, I can’t always get what I really
need…
…God’s love, His reassurance and to know that He has a
plan for me.
There are some fabulous church websites out there; there
are some amazing online ministries taking place, but unfortunately many people
don’t look to church and online ministry for what they need. They look on Wikidoodah,
FaceTwit, or some other site that claims to offer the answer to life, the
universe and everything.
Yet only God can give you exactly what you need in times
of trouble.
What is a Googol?
The very famous search engine takes its name from a
number that hints at the huge possibilities the internet offers. It’s a clever
choice of name and there is a story behind it.
It’s all in the numbers.
A googol looks like this 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
That’s a 1 followed by 100 zeroes! And that’s not even the start of the numbers
game.
A googolplex is even bigger!
Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer, estimated that
writing a googolplex in standard form (i.e., "10,000,000,000...")
would be impossible, because writing such a large number physically would
require more space than is available in the known universe. It would also take
more time than anyone could ever manage. A googleplex is a HUGE number.
An average sized book would contain 1,000,000 zeros (if
anyone really was mad enough to print such a book – it would not be a good
read). If you were to write a googolplex in a series of these books you’d need
1094 books to do so. That’s 1 with 94 zeroes after it! Given the average size
of a book, this would mean that you’d need a library larger than the known
universe to keep them in.
That’s a lot of shelves and a frazzled librarian.
You might be asking yourself, what’s the point of all
this maths…and you’d be right. What is the point? The point is this: the
googolplex isn’t even the largest number known to mankind!
‘Graham’s Number’ – a theoretical mathematical number,
would make a googolplex look tiny in comparison. Although, oddly enough,
mathematicians have worked out its last ten digits would be 2464195387. I don’t
understand how they did this, or even why. It seems they were searching for
something, but perhaps they were looking in the wrong direction. It’s a common
mistake.
What I can assure you is that, whatever large numbers
mankind can dream of, invent or calculate…they are dwarfed by one constant.
God’s love, power and knowledge ARE greater. He is
infinite…and infinity trumps large numbers every time.
Infinity is something without any limit. The
English word infinity comes from the Latin infinitas,
meaning "the state of being without finish". This can be translated
as "unboundedness" and comes from the Greek word apeiros,
meaning "endless".
And that sounds like God to me.
Psalm 106 tells us: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he
is good; his love endures forever.”
Psalm 52 tells us: “trust in God’s
unfailing love for ever and ever.”
Romans 6:23 promises us: “the free gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
In times of trouble, and there will be troubled times, do
not worry. You are not alone. Turn to God and He will give you His love. It
will never run out. It will never end. It will never fail.
Only God is infinite!
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