that you had advanced, pride and presumption would arise to imperil you; if you could see no progress, the temptation to despair might unnerve you. Commit your ways unto Me; that will bring a man peace at the last."
Therefore God says to the sinner, "Make your resolution in honesty of purpose; commit it to Me; do the best you can; above all things never violate your own conscience; and under no circumstances try to estimate your progress. If you should see
The true test of penitence is amendment of life, but God does not require actual amendment before receiving us back into His service. What He demands is that we have a firm purpose of amendment. No man can say what he will do in the future. The future belongs to God. It may never be ours at all. It is ours at the present moment to make a resolution of amendment, and then to trust in God to fulfil in us this resolve.
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.
. No promise is more constant in Holy Scripture than that if we rise in the strength He will give us, go forward again, and set no special task for ourselves beyond just doing the best we can, He will keep and sustain us.
