This is what the Zera Kodesh teaches us (and the Tiferes Shlomo in Parashas Vayigash explains similarly). A person should never despair and become downcast, saying, “Who am I to daven before Hashem Yisborach?” Will He even listen to my prayers? I am so distant from Him!” This is all from the yetzer hara! (The greatest proof that it’s the yetzer hara is that these thoughts come to him davka during davening.) Explains the Tiferes Shlomo: We have already been assured in the Torah that Hashem “dwells among us amid our impurities” (Vayikra 16:16). Thus, our impurities are no contradiction to the Shechinah dwelling among us. The Shechinah can rest upon a person even if he still has a long journey of teshuvah ahead of him.
The Tiferes Shlomo further explains that when the Aibishter placed the neshamah into the body of a person, He did so in such a way that the neshamah will remain protected, incorruptible. And so a person will always be able to speak to HaKadosh Baruch Hu—regardless of his state.
