I used to read this with fear. Maybe it was already too late. Maybe I've already messed up too many times. I've read too much of the Bible to be allowed to get away with my poor behaviour.
But now I read it in a different light. 'While he may be found' is any time that we are alive. This is the opportunity we all have in our lives. It is a promise - when we repent and turn to the Lord, he WILL have mercy on us. He will FREELY pardon.
Repentance looks like forsaking the things we've been doing. It's not just saying sorry and carrying on. However, when we do turn to Him in repentance, the promise of pardon is certain.
God is looking for us to turn to him because He wants and wills to have mercy and to pardon us.
It got me thinking about my laundry basket. My kids clothes get dirty. I expect them to get dirty. It's part of living and doing things. I don't get mad at them for having dirty clothes (unless they spill something down their front just as we are about to walk out the door!).
What does get me annoyed is when they don't put their dirty clothes in the wash but just let them build up in their rooms in heaps on the floor.
My job as mum is to wash the dirty clothes. I go to the laundry basket, take the clothes from there, wash them, dry them, sort them and return them to the right rooms. Everyone else's job is simply to get their dirty clothes to the wash basket. Not much to ask you might think! But somehow they find it surprisingly difficult.
It struck me that we're a bit like that with sin. God is saying, "Bring your sin to me. I will freely pardon. I will wash them so that they are as white as snow." But we let the sins heap up in our lives. We kick them in a heap behind the door and try to forget about them.
God is offering us pure white shining robes of righteousness, bought at the price of Jesus' blood. Don't walk around in dirty clothes. Don't let sin pile up in your heart. Bring it to Him. He'll do the rest.
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