God Repented, Several Times

Do you know that there are several instances in the Bible where it says that God repented? 

I knew of one. It was not very long after God created the earth, including man and woman, gave them everything they needed to survive, yet, they yielded to temptation, and that lifestyle spread throughout the earth. 

The place was becoming so evil that God looked down from heaven and was sorrowful.

Genesis 6:1-7 NLT “Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.” In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times. The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.””

Isn’t that a sad story? That people would be so ungrateful for what God did for them that they would be careless, disrespectful, selfish, hateful, and disobedient? And some of us are experiencing the same today and even exhibiting similar traits.

We see in that account that even then, God extended His mercy and gave them a chance to repent. He commissioned Noah to warn them that if they didn’t, He would destroy the earth. 

We know the people were so deep in sin that they mocked Noah, they didn’t heed the warning from God, and God wiped out the earth with a flood. Genesis chapters 6 to 9. 

I wanted to explore this topic from the perspective of our Perfect God, the Creator of the universe, the immutable/unchanging God, the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent One who made something out of nothing, who knew us before we were even thought of by our fore-parents, repenting! 

One may ask - Isn’t that a contradiction to the nature of God?

Well, as I studied this, I saw different theological interpretations, but I truly believe that in His time, God will reveal it all. But in the meantime, our duty is to continue to trust and believe God. Amen?!

When the Bible says God repented, it is believed to be an expression using human terms to describe God’s emotions and actions. What? God has emotions? Let’s discuss that in tomorrow’s exhortation, God willing.

Today, we continue to look at incidents where God repented, where He expressed regret or sorrow about a particular situation, or where He decided against doing something He said He would do. 

For that’s what ‘God repented’ suggests. Not that God is imperfect. Not that He made a mistake in His creation plan. He did not. Not at all.

The Bible is here using words that we can understand to show how deeply God was displeased with the sinfulness of man, after all He did for us.

There was this other instance where the children of Israel lost hope and faith in God who delivered them out of bondage and was taking them through the wilderness to the Promised Land. And instead of continuing to trust this Great God, they got discouraged when Moses went away and stayed a bit too long, in their opinion, they started to worship idols instead. 

When God saw how stubborn and rebellious they were, He threatened to destroy them. But Moses tried to pacify Him. 

In Exodus 32:14 we read: “So the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.” 

There was a similar incident with Nineveh. 

Jonah 3:10 - "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." This occurred after the people of Nineveh repented and turned from their evil ways.

In 1 Samuel 15:11, God was expressing regret that He set up Saul to be King, because Saul disobeyed His command to destroy the Amalekites. He said: “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.”

God did what He did because He expected man to trust Him, be faithful and obedient. And man failed.

So again, the meaning of repented here is clarified. It doesn’t mean God sinned and had to ask for forgiveness, for He is God, He is perfect and who would He ask for forgiveness from anyway? He is supreme. He is sovereign.

But here, we see that the word repented means a change in God's intended actions in response to human behavior.

Let’s refer to yet another incident where God repented or changed His intended course of action. 

It’s the case of Hezekiah's illness and recovery.

We read about it in 2 Kings 20:1-6 “About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.” When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly. But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the Lord: “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’””

Hezekiah was sick and God said he would die. But glory to God, prayer changes everything. Hezekiah beseeched the Lord with all of his heart, God heard and answered His prayer, changed His decision and granted Hezekiah an additional fifteen years of life. Hallelujah.

Some of us ought to be glad, in fact, all of us ought to be glad that God changed His mind about making us suffer as we deserve.  

This was the result after Adam and Eve or Eve and Adam sinned:

Genesis 3:16-19 “Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.””

Many of us are like the Israelites. God has been so gracious and merciful and forgiving and kind and loving to us, yet we are so ungrateful and rebellious and disrespectful and disobedient. Lord have mercy!

We make God sorrowful Family, when we yield to temptation and set Him aside to build up our friends circle, to be the life of the party, to be popular, to satisfy our egos, to get rich quick by committing illegal activities and committing all kinds of sin. Especially when we try to justify our actions - he made me do it, she provoked me, I was just trying this out - I’m not going to continue - just wanted to enjoy the experience for a while. Or I just wanted to please my friend or family member, husband or wife for a moment. And, well, it’s in the church manual or it’s the law of the land.

Foolish reasons and excuses, while God is looking on with regret at our misinformation, misinterpretations, and evil deeds. Who should we please? Who really should be repenting here? 

Galatians 1:10 “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”

Acts of the Apostles 5:29 “But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

Once we recognise the error of our ways, Family, we should be quick to acknowledge, repent and change our ways from bad to good. Aaamen!

Acts of the Apostles 3:19  “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.” 

Psalms 32:5 “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” 

And when we repent, thank God for His promise of forgiveness and reward. 

Malachi 3:6 ““I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Again, Family, God is sovereign. So let’s not be confused about certain sayings or phrases that some folk run with to try and discourage others from believing in God. 

Family, let us understand that God didn’t repent because of a lack of foresight or vision when He was creating the earth. He did not make a mistake. 

Let us understand that everything He did and everything He does is part of His sovereign will. He knew and knows the outcome of every situation even before it happens to us. 

He is omniscient and knows all potential outcomes and responses. Therefore, if and when He changes His mind, it’s within His overarching and perfect plan. 

Thanks be to God that when we sin, when we repent, God can lessen the consequences of or even erase the penalty. That’s why Jesus Christ died for you and for me. Glory to God.

God remains faithful, Family. He remains just, loving, and holy. 

But we see where the Lord said because of our behaviour, He was sorry He made man. 

But we also see instances where He changed His mind about destroying man, even in spite of His deep sorrow over man’s decisions to disobey Him.

With all of that, I want us to take away that God is God. He is Perfect. He knows best. We must trust and obey Him and continue to worship His Holy Name, as we look forward to Jesus’ return. 

aub - 17 June 2024

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