Does God Have Regrets? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 6:5-7,

"The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on
the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human
heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made
human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the
Lord said, 'I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I
have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures
that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.'"

Does God have regrets? He says he does - at least he did here. He
regretted having made mankind when he witnessed how evil and violent
they had become in Noah's day. "Now the earth was corrupt in God's
sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had
become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God
said to Noah, 'I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth
is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy
both them and the earth.'" Verses 11-13.

Some people's theology will not allow the teaching that God can have
regrets. Their understanding is that since God is omniscient and has
perfect foreknowledge of all things, and because he is transcendent
and maintains his supremacy over all, God could not possibly have any
kind of a change of heart, particularly any regrets. Their perspective
is that God just wants to appear regretful, while not actually being
so, so that he can communicate his repudiation of sin in a dramatic
way.

I believe this is a short-sighted outlook for two obvious reasons. The
first of which is that God said he regretted making mankind, and his
revelation of himself in the Scriptures makes that point clearly. The
Scriptures tell us that very thing. Secondly, notice my comments in
the previous paragraph: those who hold the view that God cannot have
regrets are interpreting the Scriptures according to their theology. A
bad thing to do. This is always how bad theology gets started.

I am of the persuasion that our theology ought to be informed by the
Scriptures as opposed to the Scriptures being informed by our
theology. As we enter into the Scriptures to learn what is there, we
need to check our theology at the door as we discover what God has to
say to us.

Yes, God says he regretted having made human beings on earth. Let's
all adjust our theology to accommodate that fact.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

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