Can the heart desiring to return to the allegiance of our God have any qualm of doubt in the face of such promises? If there is true penitence, rather will it return in a confident peace, knowing with a most assured certainty that "the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him."[[11]]
(4) The penitent soul turns to the Father in tranquillity because it knows that, though there has been grievous fall, yet all is not lost. He will give it another chance. In the Father's house are many mansions, and He is still preparing a place for us. All the treasures of His Kingdom may yet be ours if we come back in true sorrow. We broke our resolution, we wounded Him again in the same old sin, but He has not given us up. Even while we are wondering how we can ever face Him again, He is starting out on His way to the wilderness to seek the sheep that is lost. The stones of the way cut His Sacred Feet; the thorns and briars of sin tear His Hands as He bends down to extricate the entangled soul; but He cares naught for these if only He can fetch home again His banished one.
We are told that "The Saints are the sinners who kept on trying." They reign in glory to-day not because they were pure from sin, but because when sin entered in they did not forget the Father's tender love, but came back, calm and sure, to the peace of His pardoning embrace.
III. A Spirit of Reparation
A heart that loves, and that has offended the object of its love, naturally longs for opportunity to make reparation. If our return to the divine allegiance after a fall is in the smallest measure sincere, we shall not have to spur ourselves on to a desire for reparation. It will spring up unbidden, strong and dominant. The heart will be restless and disquieted until opportunity be found.
This desire is not a supernatural gift only. It belongs even to the natural heart of man. We see it showing itself in little children. Mark the child who has offended a loving mother, who has wept out its heart-broken confession on her bosom, and been forgiven and soothed, and sent away restored to the mother's favour. How quick is that little one all day long to watch for and grasp opportunities of responding to her slightest wish. The little heart instinctively longs to make good the wrong of its disobedience. So with the heart that, having sinned against God, has repented. This is one of the best tests of true and godly repentance. If we long to repair the wrong, if we are quick to seize opportunities to honour Him whom our sin had dishonoured, there can be no question that we have sorrowed after a godly sort.
How does God meet this spirit on the part of the penitent?
Here enters the divine Love and says, "My child, you have indeed dishonoured Me in your sin, and wounded and crucified Me afresh. Your love demands an opportunity for reparation and my answering love will give it you. Go forth to this renewed battle; show that you can be a good soldier of the Cross. Fight valiantly that you may win even greater glory for My Name than that which was lost by your failure."
What more can the generous heart ask of God? Suppose when we came to Him in deep sorrow for our fault, He should say to us, "I will pardon you, but never will I give you the opportunity of serving me again. I trusted you once and you failed me. I will not trust you again."