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. Genesis 6:5-6
In our world today, we often think about sin in categories from not so bad to truly terrible. As a result, we rationalize some of our sins such as telling a "white lie" or speaking unkindly as "not so bad." The truth is, however, as "minimal" as some of our sins might seem, all sin separates us from God. As a result, He takes all sin, whether seemingly "great" or "small," very seriously.
When we think about the fact that God takes sin seriously, we often think about him being angry at sin, and certainly this is true. God is also hurt and broken-hearted when we sin. Genesis Chapter 6 tells us about a time when God observed the wickedness taking place in the world, and He was grieved. Genesis 6:6 tells us that "the Lord was sorry He had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke His heart." When this verse tells us that God "was sorry" He had created humanity, this carries the context of grief, emotional sadness, and pain. God was grieved by the sin that He was observing. Even more, this verse tells us that the sin broke His heart. My friends, God feels pain by the sin that takes place in the world. As a result, all sin is very serious to Him.
As we think about the truth that sin breaks God’s heart, one thing we must consider is that it is not just sins that we would consider to be “great” sins that cause Him pain. You see, all sin separates us from a Holy God, and therefore He is grieved by every single sin, “great” and “small,” and He takes it very seriously. Each and every sin committed breaks His heart.
What about you? Is sin something that you take seriously? Does it break your heart? Our hope is that we can be different from others. We need to see sin the way that God sees it.
Pull out a journal or a notebook and write a prayer to God. In this prayer, acknowledge the severity of all sin, great and small. Thank God for the forgiveness He offers through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to all who place their faith in Him.
Read Genesis 6:1-8 (NLT)
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with[a] humans forever, for they are mortal[b]; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
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