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