An elderly woman who lived in the north of England hadn’t been able to truly pray for years. She needed to pray, even wanted to pray, but each time she tried to pray her mind went to five bottles of wine. Those were the bottles she had once stolen when she had been employed as a housekeeper for a wealthy estate in the English countryside.

Her reasoning for the theft had been, “This family has such an extensive wine cellar, they’ll never miss just a few bottles, especially bottles of an inexpensive vintage.” And she had been correct in her assessment. Years had now passed and she had long since moved on from that job, but no mention had ever been made of the missing bottles. She had enjoyed the wine in the months following the theft and was obviously long since clear from any threat of charges being brought against her. What she wasn’t clear from, though, was the conviction she came under every time she tried to pray.

Finally, she reached a breaking point and visited a local pastor who counseled her to go back to the estate, confess her theft, and make monetary restitution. She protested by saying, “But the lord of the estate died some years ago and there is no one there now who would even remember me.” The pastor said, “Well, did he have an heir?” The woman answered, “Yes, a son.” To that the pastor replied, “Then go to that son, confess the theft to him, and make your monetary restitution to him.” The woman, however, recoiled at such a thought and went away sad.

After a sleepless night, she returned to the pastor and said, “I really do want to do something that will enable me to pray again, but I just can’t go back to that estate and do as you ask because it would be too humiliating. What if I take the amount of money the wine was worth and use it as a contribution to the church?” A greedy pastor might have jumped at that offer, but this man was a genuine servant of the Lord, and so his answer was, “No, God doesn’t want your stolen gift.”

Several more days passed, and each one brought an even greater conviction and burden upon the woman until she could no longer stand her situation. So, she got in her car, drove out to the estate, introduced herself to the son, made a full confession of her sin, and extended a satisfactory amount of repayment to him. He thanked her for her honesty and graciously refused to accept the money, but she was so insistent that he finally accepted the repayment only to satisfy her. Then the woman returned home and, for the first time in years, prayed the way she was meant to pray.

It is from this simple little story that I offer one self-evident lesson: If some past sin that you have committed against someone is standing between you and God, you must do whatever God requires of you to make things right. Have you wronged someone? Do you owe that person a sincere apology? Do you owe him or her some kind of restitution? Then consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.) as your application to this post:

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. (Psalm 66:18)

Isaiah 1:15: When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. (Isaiah 1:15)

Isaiah 59:1-2: Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2)

Micah 3:4: Then they will cry to the Lord, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds. (Micah 3:4)