Our lack of understanding is not due to the
difficulty of temptations, but to our ignorance. Often it happens that while some are in the midst of these trials, they depart from the world laden with guilt, since they did not confess, but rather denied and blamed. But the merciful God waited with the hope that somehow they might be humbled, so that He might forgive them and
make for them a way of escape. And He would not only have provided them with a way of escape from their temptations, but would have forgiven
them their transgressions by reason of the brief confession of their hearts.
St. Isaac the Syrian
