Does God Really Repent? As you read through the Word of God you will undoubtedly come across

areas of scripture that you just don't understand or can't really explain.

This is common for all of us. The beginning of the process to "understand

the mind of God" is to realize that He is far above the human ability to fully

grasp Him completely. As someone once said "a God that you can fully understand and comprehend is a God you will not want to worship".

In truth the ways of God are NOT man's ways at all are they?

'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the

Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than

your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. ' -- ISAIAH l:8-9

To have a deeper and full understanding of the Creator we must dwell in His

Word as there we can gain and understand as much as possible about His

character and nature. In that Holy Word alone we will then see what He wanted

us to know about Him and how He wanted us to know it. In fact it is my opinion

that far too many people ( including myself at times ) spend way too much

time "thinking about" or trying to ponder God "in our little minds" without really

getting into His Word fully and gleaning our base of truth about Him there. The

secular world is very guilty of this as they often try to make claims or state truths

about Him but sadly they are void of His revelation to man which is the Holy bible. This is why the Word tells us to study to:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be

ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Tim 2:15

So let us who claim Him study and stay in the Word and find our answers

there.....

A topic that can cause many to stumble or shrug their shoulders is when the

Word seems to say ... God repented! One such area of scripture is Genesis 6:5-6

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.

And it... repented... the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved

him at his heart.

(other verses that say God repented are Ex 32;14, Judges 2;18, 2 Samuel 24;16, 1 Chronicles 21;15, Jeremiah 26:19 and Jonah 3:10)

Lets look at the word repent and see what its meaning really is:

Repentance:

be sorry: to recognize the wrong in something you have done and be sorry

about it

change ways: to feel regret about a sin or past actions and change your ways or habits

In this text the Hebrew word being used for repent is

naw-kham'

A primitive root; properly to sigh, that is, breathe strongly; by implication to be sorry, that

is, (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself): - comfort (self), ease [one’s self], repent (-er, -ing, self).

So this word can mean a sorrow or to be sorry which is a bit different then the

way most people would think of the word repent. The question many people have

after seeing that verse and knowing the meaning of the word is this: how can

God have repented/been sorry when He knows everything ahead of time and

was He really sorry He made man?

Indeed He does know everything as this verse tells us.

Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite

Psalm 147:5

Note: open theism ( God doesn't know all things ) is a lie and not rooted in the

Word but mans lack of understanding.

And we also know that God doesn't change His mind from this verse:

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not

make it good?

Numbers 23:19

While this may seem like a problem or a contradiction, it is not really. Let me

attempt to use examples in God's Word to build a case and give you some

reasons why this passage is consistent with who God is and how He is described

in the rest the of bible for mankind to grasp. When studying the Word: it is always

wise to let scripture interpret scripture lest we add our own ideas to His Eternal

Word. We must realize that the bible is the revelation of God to mankind. It is

NOT written for God but written for mans own understanding. So in order for man

to understand it and gain knowledge of God's truth, character and nature; it must

be written in a way that man can attempt to grasp its meaning that the Lord

intended. Mankind must relate to what God is telling us or the Word is useless to man as a means to understand God. But how does a All Knowing, Immoral,

Infinite, Eternal Being relate details about Himself to a finite, fallen, mortal human

being with limited understanding of such eternal qualities? The bible says we are

to come to God as a child.

Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little

children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:3

To understand this Genesis text let us think about how you would attempt to

explain a complex issue to a small child. What do you do? Talk over their head or do you put it in a way that their limited knowledge, experience and viewpoint can

understand and grasp it? You would explain something they have never

experienced by telling them it is like something they understand and have

experienced before then they can grasp it. ( example: frog leg's taste a lot like...

chicken ) God does this for us but He does it in a even better way by actually

attaching our human traits to Himself in the bible so we mere humans can grasp

more knowledge about Him that otherwise we would be totally void of. Example:

the bible says that God was walking in the garden.(Gen 3:8) Since He is a Spirit;

does He really have legs? Not at all. So is this verse telling a lie about the Lord?

No and let me explain. This is what is called a: an·thro·po·mor·phism

It simply means the attribution of human characteristics to nonhumans: the

attribution of a human form, human characteristics, or human behavior to

nonhuman things, e.g. deities in mythology and animals in children stories.

So in this Genesis text God is telling us He repented (was sorry) to relay to us

feelings we can relate to. The message here is the VERY seriousness of mans

fall into sin stated in a way we could grasp it in human terms. (we all know sorry

right?) This in no way means God made a error, was surprised or fooled at man's

choices. Remember we don't build our picture of God from just a verse here or

there but we build a "complete picture" of Him using ALL of His Word, amen? He

lovingly knows that by using human's traits to explain His actions, we can better

understand Him and His Truth be revealed to us.

The obvious next question then is why did God create man and allow Him to fall

if He knew He would? While He indeed knew man would fall there was no other

way by which we could all be given free will to CHOOSE to love and serve Him

vs being slaves. By using this example of repentance/ a sorrow filled heart over

mans sin; God is sharing His heart (but He doesn't really have one does He?)

and bridging the nature/knowledge gap to us as He has done in so many other scriptures as well. If we consider Jesus Christ the Messiah; God sent a

human/God-man to stand in the gap for mankind at the cross but God is not

human at all is He? Why did it do? It showed us who God was, how he could

endure what we endure and how He reached out to us in His love. How very

beautiful. He became a man to reach mankind. So in these troubling verses He is

describing Himself with humans feelings to again, reach man. The fact is God

was grieved many times in the bible but when people were brought to repentance

He was merciful and spared them then ultimately through Christ He gave us

eternal life with Him. This again is showing His various attributes to mankind like

sorrow, wrath and mercy. There are many other examples of

an·thro·po·mor·phism all over the scriptures and I am sure as you read the

bible now, they will start to jump out at you more and more. These are not lies or

contradictions when we let the Word speak to us fully and don't confound it by

our limited human ideals. Just keep in mind God is altering His description of Himself for our better understanding.

We also know from scripture that the Word is there as an example for us and to

us.

Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for

our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1 Corinthians 10:11

Again by dealing with the situation of man in the way He did and saying He was

sorry all of mankind over the ages can see, relate and read about the event. We

can forever see His disgust of sin, His anger/wrath as He destroyed most of

mankind. But we also see the mercy and love as He spared Noah (thus the entire

human race) in the Ark. Note: the ark was a type of Christ by the way that saves

us from God's wrath. See a post on that HERE :

This is the amazing redemptive story at play. God creates, man falls, God is

angry, He judges, man falls again, God calls out His own ( Israel) and then He

sends Christ as the Redeemer. Remember the bible is written for man and our

spiritual understanding so we can have the knowledge of God through it. In this

we learn about His many character traits, His Holy nature and His future plans as

well. While He is NOT human at all; we are made in His image and His recorded

events are examples we can relate to by attaching certain attributes to Himself.

It serves to unite our limited understanding to His High and Mighty ways and

draw us to Him through Christ.

If you read the Word long enough you will come to see that God is ALL Wisdom

and He and His Word can be trusted in all things. He never make mistakes,

practices injustice or acts in haste as fallen men do. Once you realize God in NOT like man, it makes deep bible study much easier. It is easy to read just one

verse (like Gen 6:5-6) and say "why did He do or say that?" Without a complete

and deeper knowledge of His Word and Ways, our ability to understand or judge

right and wrong comes from our limited human understanding and NOT God's

Infinite Wisdom. He created and knows mankind and it is by His revelation (the

bible and His Spirit) only can we fully fit the pieces of knowledge together about

Him. If we consider our vision above His, we go down a bad rabbit trail of error.

Consider this: In battle field settings soldiers on the ground have a very limited

field of view. But the commander with eyes in the sky (drones) can see the full

battle field and so he is much better suited to direct the forces for their own good.

So it is with God and we must trust His Eternal field of view and that is the Word

of God. Even when we don't fully understand it at first, we must trust and when

we stay in the Word that trust comes ever more easily. Here are some verse's about the wisdom of God you can look up and trust in:

Psalm 19:1

Romans 1;20

Psalm 119:160

John 17:17

Lastly... we must come to see that everything is done for God's glory. The

universe, the earth, mankind and yes, the Word of God to mankind. They are not

made for themselves but for their Creator. With this understanding we can then

apply it to situations and we will see more clearly.

To put it simply I would just answer this way to someone who asked:

does God repent? did He not want man to exist?

why is sin allowed to remain?

why do bad things happen?

Answers:

*He was using human emotions to better describe Himself to us and show His

hatred of sin.

*Man had to have the choice to fall (sin) in order to have free will to choose to

love God

*He clearly wasn't changing His mind on man as He spared Noah and sent us

Christ to rescue us.

*God uses ALL things for His own glory in the end ( even mans sin )

*Sinful humans do bad things and they can't always see the end so they get a

narrow view of the truth

We hope that helps you see more clearly about who God really is?

Perhaps if we all would strive to first know God's character and nature better vs

just trying to answer our own questions outside of the Word; that would help us in

the long run. Men have spent their lives trying to answer these questions but they

come up empty unless they can see Him for who He is.

The answer can only be it is all for.... His glory and His Word is revelation to

mankind. He will use creation, satan, man's sin, bad things, judgment and grace

for His ultimate glory. When you begin to think from His view point (very hard to

do in the flesh) you then begin to see things in a whole different way and that is

why some of these scriptures trouble us at the start. We need to have the

perspective of God to fully understand His Word and Ways. This only comes in

knowing Him through faith/new birth and walking in His ways fully not in your

flesh ( sinfulness). Some would say it means putting on Christ.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil

the lusts thereof.

Romans 13;14

When you are trying to decide if God did repent or if He changes; keep this in

mind.

God doesn't change His character and nature but how He deals with mankind

does indeed change.

A good example would be a police officer who is charged with keeping the law in

your town. If you drive by him and you are abiding in the law; you wave at him

and he ways back and you go on your way. But if you drove by Him doing three

times the speed limit and shooting a gun out the window; that police officer

will chase you down, call for back up and take you down! Same police officer, different situations; but he didn't change at all did he? I hope you see our point

here?

In the end, greater biblical truth comes over time by study, dwelling/living in His

Word daily, praying/meditating over it, reasoning with other believers if you have

them and letting it tell us all about Him. (you don't get it just sitting in a pew each

week) Only then can we fully understand and trust Him as he desires we do. Just

as He uses human ways/attributes to describe His actions

(an·thro·po·mor·phism) He also sent Himself in a human form ( Jesus Christ

) to redeem a people who will obey and follow after Him in spirit and truth worship

(John 4:24) which is lives lived daily for Him as holy sacrifices.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1

Are you following Him today according to His Word and Ways?

Test your faith HERE:

Please go HERE and read or listen to the gospel to be born again in Him.

We encourage you to keep seeking His Word and Ways daily as you reject man's

error's. Don't stop at the door of your finite human understanding and false

traditions but push on in His truth and a vast eternal treasure awaits you.

For God's glory!

Let us know how we can assist you.

narrowroad8711@hotmail.com

608-547-8162