IS GOD SORRY?....Bill Fitzhenry’s Thoughts From The Bible For Today

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Genesis 6:6 NKJV

And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Repented – Hebrew – “sighed” by extension grief, sorrow, regret

The ESV translates this the Lord was sorry.  The intention is regret.  When He saw the depravity of civilization as a whole, the departure from the perfection of creation was so great God regretted the fact of His creature.

Our understanding of Scripture is such that we know God does not change.  Then what our language does to facilitate God’s communication with us is to explain Divine activity in common terms.

Calvin explores this statement with clarity and piety.

Wherefore, there is no need for us to involve ourselves in thorny and difficult questions, when it is obvious to what end these words of repentance and grief are applied; namely to teach us, that from the time when man was so greatly corrupted, God would not recon him among his creatures; as if he would say, “This is not my workmanship; this is not that man who was formed in my image, and whom I had adorned with such excellent gifts:  I do not deign now to acknowledge this degenerate and defiled creature as mine.”  Similar to this is what he says, in the second place, concerning grief; that God was so offended by the atrocious wickedness of men, as if they had wounded his heart with mortal grief:  There is here, therefore, an unexpressed antithesis between that upright nature which had been created by God, and that corruption which sprung from sin.   Genesis, John Calvin, page 249.

When we take the words at Adam’s creation, God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good, Genesis 1:31, and contrast them with Genesis 6:6 we are overwhelmed with the degree and rapidity of the change.

There are two stark conclusions that we are forced to make.

1.  It is sin that caused this.  This is the only way for us to think.  Prior to sin, this was not so.  After sin--and with amazing brevity--this radical condition of society had developed.  If a person who is healthy and known for his strength and energy begins to experience a debilitating illness we are not hesitant to attribute his change to his illness.  It is as reasonable to attribute the criminality and corruption of society to sin as it is to see illness as the cause of failure of health.
2. The second conclusion is the evident downward progress of society.  From the time of Adam’s sin to the Deluge it is the revelation of history that man does not progress to a higher level of concern for God but ever falls lower.  Sin is always destructive.

The three great events of history, Creation, the Deluge, and Calvary points us to man’s fitness to be described as Genesis 6:5 NKJV And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  But in Genesis 6:8B But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, the victory is named and sealed.

You can put your name where Holy Writ has Noah if it is so.

The following by Toplady gives us a song to express our joy.

As all, when Adam sinned alone,
In his transgression died,
So by the righteousness of One,
Are sinners justified,
We to Thy merit, gracious Lord,
With humblest joy submit,
Again to Paradise restored,
In Thee alone complete.