O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God. Why has he forsaken you? It is because you have hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd; yea, ye have provoked him to anger against you.
The theme is repeated many times: God forsakes us only when we first forsake him. He will never leave us as long as we do not leave him. But when we choose to turn our backs, he will not force us to turn back towards him. He can whisper, plead, and even afflict us to try to get our attention, but if we choose deafness and hardness of heart, the laws of agency and justice require that he let us go our way. It must be terribly frustrating and heart-rending for him, but the alternative -- to use force and rob us of agency -- is counter to his nature and the laws by which he lives. Our fate is literally in our own hands and hearts.
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