Beyond the depths of numb despair, with hope's last surge receding, I call to you, great hidden God, to hear my urgent pleading; for you alone can hear and heed the utter starkness of my need, no other pow'r can save me. If you, O God, saw nothing else but how our sins depict us, who then could stand before your gaze when countless faults convict us? Yet more than we can comprehend, your great forgiveness knows no end and turns our dread to rev'rence. For such a great and sov'reign One I wait with expectation: my soul in quiet hope abides and trusts God's declaration. Far more than those who watch by night and long to see the morning light, my soul seeks God with yearning. O holy people called and led, who know God's steadfast keeping, recall and claim your cov'nant hope, the joy beyond your weeping. From sins and fears that now enslave our God's redeeming pow'r will save, will pardon and bring blessing.