Tempted: Anguish surrounds me. My heart is broken and disturbed. My sins continually appear before me. They severely torment my conscience and take me down to hell. There is no peace in my bones from fear of the Lord (Ps. 32:3). My soul refuses to be consoled (Ps. 77:2-3). I am troubled and my spirit is afflicted. I see no place where I may flee and find a remedy for my sins.
Comforter: If you wish to flee, flee to Christ. He lovingly invites all who labor under the weight of sin and who are pressed with the yoke of that evil mistress, iniquity. Hide yourself in His wounds and the tempest of divine wrath will pass over you. Christ is the propitiator (Rom. 3:25) to whom you are able to flee with a true faith and find rest in the shadow of his wings (Ps. 17:8) …
Indeed, there is yet another essential property of true faith: you must gaze with the eye of the heart upon Christ hanging on the Cross; you must hope for and draw out the medicine for your wounds from His wounds; you must recline upon Him with a true and faithful heart; and you must, as it were, wrap yourself in His most holy merit. This is the voice of true faith:
Look upon me, You who hang on a wooden Cross for me,
and may all my sins lie hid in Your side.
My troubled mind longs for You; forgive my guilt:
By my sin I die, but by Your blood I live.
Johann Gerhard - “The Weight of Sorrow” - Handbook of Consolations for the Fears and Trials That Oppress Us in the Struggle with Death
