Let’s look at those two verses together:

  • Genesis 1:31, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
  • Genesis 6:6, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”

This does seem a little confusing, doesn’t it?  In Genesis 1, the Lord declared all His creation as VERY GOOD.  When we get to Genesis 6, the Lord expresses His disappointment in man and how it grieved His heart for the condition of man as expressed in Genesis 6:5, “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.” 

In reality, all that God created was good.  Man corrupted God’s creation by rebellion and disobedience…doing what the Lord told them not to do.  Because of man’s sin, the entire earth came under a curse as we read the words of the Lord to Adam in Genesis 3:17-19, “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

How it grieved the heart of the Lord for His greatest creation, man, to fall into sin.  Did He know this would happen when He created man?  Yes, He did!  He is the one who declares “the end from the beginning.” (Isaiah 46:10).  Still, when man fell into sin, the Lord was affected.  He loves man.  His desire is to fellowship with the man He created.  His desire is that man should walk with Him.  Sin took that away.  How could the Lord not be grieved?  Because God is righteous, He must judge sin.  So, we read in Genesis 6:7, “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”  Yet, even in the midst of God’s righteous judgment, we read of a man named Noah.  We learn in verse 8, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”  The Lord moved Noah to build an ark to save and preserve him and his family when the Lord judged the world with the great flood.  God is indeed righteous, yet at the same time He is merciful.

That is manifested so clearly when the Lord revealed to us His plan of salvation.  In the sacrificial death of His only begotten Son, God made a way for sinful man to be forgiven.  We read in Romans 3:24-26, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”  Wow!  In this blessed plan of salvation, God can be JUST and the JUSTIFIER of those who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their sin bearer, their savior from sin. Even though the natural state of man now is one of great sin and wickedness, when one accepts the Lord Jesus as his savior, he is made a brand-new person.  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

We read in Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”  My dear friend, have you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?  Has the Lord saved you completely and made you into a brand-new person?  He will if you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He said in John 6:37, “…him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  It grieved the heart of the Lord that man fell into sin, but He can save you out of that sin and give you eternal life.  Won’t you trust Him today and be saved forever?  (CC)  (661.4)