God will not be convinced of the sincerity of appeals that are offered too late. He knows that there is not really a change of heart.
Some people who have no time for salvation do begin to pray when they are in trouble. Yes, but these prayers are not acceptable to the Lord if they are only prayed for deliverance from the immediate danger. We must realise that we do not even know how to pray properly and that we need help from God even for this. We must therefore come to God and ask him to help us pray, to help us be sincere with him, and to remove all wrong motives from our hearts. We must ask him to help us seek him.