When the LORD saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the LORD regretted that He had made man on earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the LORD said, “I will wipe off from the face of the earth mankind, whom I created, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky-for I regret that I made them.” Noah, however found favor in the sight of the LORD. Gensis 6:5-7 HCSB
In this Scripture passage, God is regretting having made man. Things had gotten that bad. I’m wondering how God’s feeling now with the way things are going in the world. God regretted making man so much He had decided to wipe them off from the face of the earth. He wanted not only to wipe mankind off the earth, but all the animals as well. It sounds as though He just wanted to wipe the slate clean and start all over. But He found favor in Noah and decided to give Noah and his family a chance to escape the flood. He also decided to allow the animals to live and instructed Noah to build this ark to accommodate Noah, his family and the animals.
In Exodus chapter 32, the Israelites grew tired of waiting for Moses to come back and talked Aaron into making a golden calf for them to worship. God was so angry He decided to destroy them, but Moses intervened, and God did not destroy all of the people, but many died.
One thing we can all know for sure is that sin does not go unnoticed by God, nor does it escape punishment. God makes it very clear in the Bible that our wickedness will be punished. He’s also very clear about the things he abhors and will not tolerate.
Sin may seem like a good idea at first. It may look, smell, or feel good. But it is not good. No good comes from our sinful behavior. It also gets in the way of our relationship with the LORD. Isaiah 59:2 tells us our sin creates a barrier.
David was considered to be a man after God’s own heart. But David’s sin left him brokenhearted (Psalm 51). He ended up losing the son born to him and Bathsheba. And just as God’s prophet Nathan prophesied, the sword never left his household. There was upheaval in his family for the rest of his life.
If you have sin you don’t want to let go of, know this. It will not go unpunished. You will pay a hefty price for it. It may be good for now, but there will come a day when you regret it. Let go of any sin in your life or in your heart and repent. Turn to God. He will help you to overcome sin and the devil’s temptations. He waits with open arms.
Have a great day!