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The Evil One, cursed be he, has one central way of attack. First, it is to tempt a person to sin, and then once he or she sins, is to push that individual deep into depression and sadness. If the Evil One gets us to commit sin, he then wants us to feel so terrible about sinning that in our minds we think it is impossible for us to ever repair the break of relationship that we had with God.
The whole goal of the Evil One is to create distance between us and God. Or if he can, make us think that God has pushed us a way.
However, this is far from the truth. God will ALWAYS be next to us, even when we sin.
In Leviticus chapter 16 we read, “In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness.”
In this verse, we know that God himself dwells in the Most Holy place, even when the children of Israel were actively rebelling against God and living in a state of uncleanness. No matter how far the people tried to run away from God, God was still dwelling in the Holy Place, waiting for them to cry out to him and repent.
It is hard for us to imagine how deep the love of God is toward us even when we turn our faces away from him. It is so easy to fall into a spiritual depression thinking that God is angry at us and that our relationship with him is beyond repair. Many times in these cases we walk further away from God and not towards him. While we are responsible for our sins, and we will be held accountable, God always loves us and is always close to us. He is dwelling among us as the verse states in the “midst of their uncleanness.”
If we find ourselves away from God today, remember that the Evil One is wanting us to walk further and further away from God, but don’t ever think that God has walked away from us because we have sinned. God will always be there, loving us, and ready to cleanse us from all sinfulness. It is up to us to turn around and walk towards God again. He will always be there ready and willing to forgive.