I fly to you for refuge, blessed Christ, my only redeemer and savior.

My sins are certainly great.

But greater still is the payment you have made for them.

 

Great is my unrighteousness, but greater by far is your righteousness.

I admit my sin.

Please, in your grace, would you pay its penalty?

I reveal the sin, in your mercy conceal it.

With remorse I uncover it; please hide it, in your grace.

 

There is nothing in me but sin that deserves your condemnation.

But in you there is nothing but grace that gives me a blessed hope of salvation.

 

I hear a voice in scripture which tells me to hide in the clefts of the rock.

You are the rock that cannot be moved, and your wounds are those clefts.

In them I will hide from the accusations of the world.

 

My sins cry aloud to heaven for vengeance,

    but still more loudly cries out your blood shed for my sins.

 

My sins accuse me before God, 

    but your suffering is mightier for my defense.

My horribly wicked life calls for my condemnation,

    but your holy and righteous life pleads more powerfully still for my salvation.

I appeal from the throne of your justice to the throne of your mercy.

I have no desire to come before your judgment –

    unless your holy merit intervenes between me and your sentence.

 

Have mercy on us, only God of mercy,

    and turn our stony hearts to you! Amen!

 

Johann Gerhard, 1582 – 1637, Lutheran church leader and theologian

 

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Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
    for my hope is in him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress where I will not be shaken.
My victory and honor come from God alone.
    He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
O my people, trust in him at all times.
    Pour out your heart to him,
    for God is our refuge.