That too is immediate. The soul believes God's promises. It recognises
God's claim. It returns to Him. We are attracted by His grace. The
sunflower turns to the sun. The penitent is not driven only, but
drawn--God's own loving self-revelation in Christ is His true power.
'I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.'
The consciousness of sin remains and is even deepened (subsequent
verses), and yet is different. A light of hope is in it. The very sense
of sin brings us to Him, to hide our faces on His heart like a child in
its mother's lap.
This response of the soul may be instantaneous. If it is not immediate,
it too probably will never be at all.