When a person returns to Hashem through teshuvah, Hashem responds by drawing him close as if he had never sinned. To the words “Hashem, Hashem,” which are the first of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, our Sages expound, “I am He [the God of mercy] before a person sins, and I am He after a person sins and repents” (Rosh HaShanah 17b). This means that Hashem’s ways are very different from the ways of man. When a man sins against his friend and later seeks to correct his mistake and begs forgiveness, even if the friendship will be restored it is doubtful that it will be as it once was. However, Hashem is not this way. Through teshuvah, a person can restore the original closeness with Hashem that he once enjoyed. ~ Sefer Shem Olam