Why did God regret creating man?

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them.

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

                                                                                                                        -Genesis 1:26-27;30        

In the book of Genesis 6:5-7 we come to a dichotomy in God’s character. These verses read, Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was very sorry that He had made man on earth, and He was grieved at His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry I have made them”.

It seems rather strange to the reader that God would utter these statements since He knew what man would do before He created him. God knew He would destroy man due to his inherent wickedness. And since God knew all of this, why would God destroy man save Noah  and his family and some animals when He declared that all He created was very good?

Was God confused?

Obviously God is not confused. Due to the wickedness of man, it was only right for God to destroy him. Men perpetually committed the sin of  their father Adam, which was disobedience to His word. As a result, the Lord made the decision to send the global flood to wipe evil men from the face of the earth.

So, the next question we must ask is, “Did God change his mind in creating man?” The answer is no.  The NKJV renders Genesis 6:6 as God  saying He repented that He had created man.

In what way did God have to repent? What we see here is the writer Moses is depicting God in  the anthropopathic mode[1]; meaning Moses is describing God with human experience, knowledge and emotion. It allows us to understand God better. God is seen as a loving caring creator and father who has to for His own holiness sake destroy man whom he loves. God can not deviate from His own righteousness and judgment. So destroying what He created was good although it pained the Lord to do it. God reserves the right not to be grief stricken due to man’s wickedness so he decided to get rid of the pain (i.e. evil mankind) that He called very good.

In like manner we as parents must discipline our own children when they disobey. It pains us because we love them yet it is good and righteous to punish them when they disobey so that they stay in line. Disciplining our children doesn’t diminish our love for them, rather it shows another dimension of our love for them. In this instance tough love.

In Exodus 32:14 we read where the Lord repented of the harm He was going to inflict on the Hebrews for their disobedience of worshipping the golden calf. This the Lord did for Moses’ sake who pleaded for their lives. So we see here God recanted the judgment He was going to inflict. It’s not that He couldn’t destroy the Israelites, He decided not to due to Moses’ intercession (Exodus 32:11-13). God displayed his mercy in this instance (Exodus 33:19).

God never regretted creating man essentially for he saved Noah and his family to preserve and repopulate mankind. He regrets that man chose the path of sin. This is what breaks God’s heart and grieves the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).

God essential attributes are immutable, meaning they will never change (Malachi 3:6; Heb 13:8). When man repents of evil God doesn’t change his mind, man has actually changed his disposition in God’s eyes and now he puts himself in a favorable position where God’s favor will rest upon him instead of wrath. In other words, God repents of the harm He would have done to that person since he repented (Jonah 3:4-10). 

In the final analysis  God is a God of grace and mercy, and He is also a God of justice and wrath.

God indeed was sorry for what Man, chose to become, evil. It breaks his heart. Yet God delights in man because he is made in God’s image and that was and is good still.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

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[1] This word means ascribing human emotions and attributes to a non human being (God in

Particular) or thing. By using this literary device, it allows us as finite human beings to relate to

God a little better.