He is ever ready to relent.He accepts repentance over and over again, each time the servant repents to Him. And know that our Lord is too generous not to be with you, [assisting you] against your lower self. He [also] said: Truly God loves those who repent [2:222]. If you oppose your lower self, He will be ‘on its side’ with a pardon and if you are on its side in opposition to God’s commandments and prohibitions, He will be against you. Whoever conforms to God’s commandments against his lower desire will be delivered, whereas whoever accedes to his lower desire in opposition to God’s commandments will be ruined. Indeed, the commandments of God, Exalted is He, are bitter whereas the desire of the lower self is sweet. Its similarity is none other than the likeness of delicious foods which contain within them the [bitterness] of aloes (ṣabr); whereas medicine is drunk despite its bitterness, because of the benefits that have been placed within it. One of the righteous used say, ‘Ah, the pity, even if You [do] forgive them! For among them, there is one who is wary of the withdrawal [of forgiveness], and another who weeps out of shame, even if he is pardoned.’His words, Exalted is He: