“Let me confess to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forever: for Your great mercy is upon me, and You have delivered my soul from the lowest hell” (Ps. 85:12-13). Similar to this: “Thou hast torn my bonds to pieces. I will devour a sacrifice of praise for you” (Ps. 116:7-8). A person living in sins is spiritually bound by sins, and, like a captive, is held by Satan, and his soul is at the gates of hell, although he, being blinded, does not feel it. But the goodness of God, waiting for him to repent, does not allow Satan to kidnap his soul to hell. And when he gives up his sins by the grace of God and repents, he is freed from those bonds, admires Satan’s power, and by the grace of Christ becomes free, as Christ says: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36), and is admired from the gates of death, and comes among those who are being saved. Therefore, he should always remember his previous misfortune and this great mercy of God, and diligently thank God for delivering him from that misfortune.
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