Why is it not always light? Hopefully this is not a silly question, but I was wondering why earth is not always in the light (and any other planet for that matter). I mean, we have billions of stars just in our galaxy that all give off light from all directions. That light has obviously reached is as we can see them shimmering in the night sky. 

With that in mind, what has happened to the light from the stars? Has it weakened somehow? (didn't think that was possible) Surely if we are being hit with light from all directions, it makes sense that we should always be illuminated. So what's going on here?
Olber's Paradox (Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers, 1758–1840): If the Universe were infinite, or there were infinitely many stars, then no matter which direction you look, you'd see a star. Thus, the night sky would be as bright as the Sun. Therefore, the Universe is not infinite, and does not contain an infinite amount of stars.

Also, the light from distant stars does 'get weaker' because of the inverse square law; this is the same reason lights look dimmer when they're further away.

I wonder if gravitational redshift has anything to do with it, too. Anyone?