Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

                                                                                                                   Genesis 6:5-6 

Read: Genesis 6

So with mankind’s disobedience to adhere to God’s instructions, grief, sorrow, and despair enter into the human experience. Now fast forward to the days of Noah. The sin that came into the world in the garden has now expanded to affect all of mankind. This enmity with God the Creator had reached epic proportions. So much that the writer of Genesis describes it with the following:

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

                                                                                                                   Genesis 6:5 

There wasn’t room for anything else. Mankind’s wickedness was obvious and his thoughts were on evil continually. But it is the next statement that deserves our full attention:

The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

                                                                                                                 Genesis 6:6 

The Lord was sorry that He had made mankind. That is a huge statement. Yes, God is omnipotent but that reality did not keep Him from “changing His mind” about the creation of man. This word “sorry” literally means that God repented in regards to the creation of man. So often, we attach the idea of repentance to that of turning from sin but the definition of repentance is “to change one’s mind.” In this case, God’s repenting of creating man has nothing to do with sin (for God is perfect) rather it had to do how far mankind had fallen from God’s original plan. The idea of repentance cascades throughout the New Testament as well, reminding us that we must “change our minds” and place our faith in Christ in order for eternal life to be ours (John 3:16-18).

But there is another part to this remarkable statement. Not only did God repent regarding the creation of man, He was grieved in His heart over the situation. God is relational and loving. Anyone who has lived any length of time at all understands that relationships, especially one involving love, put us in a vulnerable position of being hurt. When we put ourselves in a situation in which we are asking someone to love us in return, we risk being rejected.

Love demands a choice, a response otherwise it simply is not love. God loves mankind but the human race had rejected Him and His design for living. The result, God was grieved over the situation. We see this same emotional response from Christ as well. Consider the following:

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him? ”They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

                                                                                                                 John 11:33-35 

This is the account surrounding the death of Lazarus. Jesus knew what the outcome would be, that He would call Lazarus out of the tomb, nevertheless, seeing the grief of those mourning his loss, Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit.” He was “troubled” because these people were experiencing the physical result that the disobedience in the garden brought forth, namely physical death. Scripture even goes on to say that Jesus wept along with them.

So God can be grieved. Jesus was also moved by the suffering of others as well. But what about the Spirit of God? Consider the words of Paul:

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

                                                                                                     Ephesians 4:30 

We can even grieve the Holy Spirit. This declaration is sandwiched in between two other passages regarding man’s mistreatment of one another. When we abuse others, whether it is physically, verbally, or emotionally, we grieve the Spirit of God.

So God was grieved over the evil that had taken over the thoughts of man in the days of Noah. Jesus was grieved over the suffering that came with the loss of a loved one in death. And the Spirit of God grieves when He sees a lack of willingness to keep the simple instruction to “Love our neighbor as ourselves” (Matthew 22:39).

Jesus came to bring us life. When we turn to Him, admitting our need, and ask Him to save us on the basis of faith, He does! (Romans 10:13) We can then move forward with the knowledge that we are no longer at enmity with God rather, in Christ, we become the righteousness of God and are declared sons and daughters of the Most High God and fellow heirs to His kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 8:17). Begin living in that victory today, knowing that when we do, we are not causing God to be grieved rather we are putting a smile on His face! (Luke 15:7)