Originally posted: 01/06/2019
“The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart,” (6:6).
Oh this chapter…where do we begin? There is so much to consider; but this morning I was struck with these words, “The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart,” (6:6).
Consider His Sorrow
God Himself repeated this thought in the first Person, “…for I am sorry that I have made them,” (6:7). And I was reminded of Isaiah’s prophetic description of the Messiah, the Christ, Who was to come.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him, (Isaiah 53:3).
“A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…”
And the thought came; Jesus’ sorrow did not begin during the time He walked on the earth as a man. It began in the garden, when He walked in sweet fellowship with His creation; yet they chose to forsake Him, hid their faces, despised Him by choosing their own way, and esteemed Him not as LORD God Creator, but rather chose to esteem self.
And now, here in Genesis 6, this corruption of self-esteem is pandemic. And it grieved His heart. To think of God’s heart breaking… Judgment is not pleasurable.
How can we respond as we Consider His Sorrow?
We can look to Noah. In the midst of all the violence and corruption there was one. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD,” (6:8). How did Noah come to this place of favor? “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God,” (6:9).
This is a clear description of faith. In the midst of a world who had turned their backs on God, by God’s grace (favor) Noah walked with Him. And how was Noah declared righteous and blameless? We know Scripture teaches, “There is no one righteous not even one,” (Romans 3:10). But the righteousness of man has always been imparted by faith, “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,” (Romans 4:3).
Because Noah was a man of faith, he walked with God, trusted God, and “did, according to all that God commanded him, so he did,” (6:22). And because of Noah’s close fellowship with God, he too must have experienced grief and sorrow over the condition of man. How Noah’s heart must have ached with every act of obedience in the ark’s construction.
Oh that we would respond as Noah:
- It must begin with faith. Have we trusted God alone for our standing in His righteousness?
- Do we walk with the LORD as Noah did, in faith, obedience, humility and reverence?
- Sin grieves the heart of God…do we grieve over sin, our own as well as the world’s?
- Are we ready and willing to obey and serve Him whenever and however He calls, “according to all that God had commanded…” (6:22)?