David calls the Lord his rock, an impregnable fortress that has repeatedly saved him from his enemies. Not only when armed enemies attack, but even when death and hell draw near and salvation seems impossible, we can turn to the Lord, and He hears and comes to our aid. He comes, shaking heaven and earth; His majesty is incomparable with anything that exists in the created world, and the images of natural forces used by the psalmist can give us only an approximate idea of Him.

Yet although He Himself is above all things, the Lord draws a tiny human creature from the ocean of calamity, and here another greatness is revealed—perhaps less immediately apparent, but no less astonishing—the greatness of His mercy. In the midst of a universe that staggers the imagination, a person's own existence can sometimes seem so insignificant, and the observance of "some" commandments more insignificant still.

But none of this is insignificant in the eyes of the Lord, the bearer of righteousness.