God’s Grief

Genesis 6:1-8

¹When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,

²the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.

³Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

⁵The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

⁶And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

⁷So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

One of the things I’m not particularly looking forward to when I die is the revelation of truth about me that will accompany the leaving of this life. When standing in the presence of a perfect and holy God I think the reality of my utter depravity with be overwhelming. Even though I know that I’m a sinner, I still harbor the belief that “I’m not that bad.” (When I say “I”, I mean all of us.)

There are two occasions when God directly deals with that utter depravity in Scripture. The ultimate action comes in the death of Jesus on the cross for our sin saturated existence. His blood dealt once and for all with our ultimate tragedy. The first action takes place just 6 chapters into the story of man’s existence in the story of Noah and the flood. God looks out upon the landscape of His creation and He actually regrets making us! While He is not surprised by what man has become, for God is never caught off guard, He is grieved. The best analogy I can think of is when you are holding vigil over a loved one that you know is going to die soon. You know death is coming and it is sad and tragic. But when it finally happens, you’re not ready. It’s still incredibly painful. You are grieved. God knew the depravity of man was coming. He wasn’t surprised. When He can finally stand it no longer His grief moves Him to action and thus we have the story of Noah.

There has been some speculation and debate about “the sons of God” and the “daughters of man”. Some have even gone so far as to say that the sons of God were angelic (demonic) beings who mingled with humans and created a “super race.” That’s a little crazy and there is no other Scripture to back that up thus making is a very suspicious idea. Most likely, it means that the descendants of Seth, who had remained godly, married the descendants of Cain, who had not. Since we are so very easily swayed in the direction of evil, it didn’t take very long for most of mankind to walk away from God and follow their own sinful flesh. Only one man remained of whom it could be said “he was godly” and that was Noah.

We have not changed much over the millennia. My Dad always used to tell me that you become like the people you hang out with the most. He was not wrong. If you hang out with people who do not love God or want to serve Him, you are far more likely to become similar in your thought patterns. It you hang out with people who love God and enjoy living for Him, that lifestyle is going to be far easier for you. The children of Seth began to hang out (and marry) those who did not love God. Leaving Him behind became easy for them. Should you have non-Christian friends? Sure. How else will they see the life that is lived for Jesus? But should they become the influencing factor in your life? No. That’s a dangerous road to walk. In our story, God’s wrath is about to pour out upon His beautiful creation because of just such a decision.