We’ve debated whether God is dead or not. Let’s not forget that God is not dumb, either. Consider how we interpret God’s thoughts about man’s sins in Noah’s day: “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 (Genesis 6:5-7, NIV).’” How often have we taken this literally?
Did God really regret making man? Was He caught off guard by man’s potential for sin? I don’t think so. God had a plan to save man from sin before we were created. Why would God have a plan to save us from our sin unless He knew we would do it? He was not a bit surprised by our capability to commit evil. Genesis 6:5-7 does not show God’s ignorance or surprise of our sin. Rather, it does reveal how God feels about sin. He hates it. And, God hates it when we choose to sin. These thoughts from God were recorded before the solution for sin was revealed in Jesus.
How did God choose to fix the problem of sin? God did not choose to fix the problem of sin by the flood, but by Jesus (1 John 3:8)! The flood event shows that fear and death DOES NOT transform our hearts! Mankind traveled down the same path of sin after the flood. The flood DID NOT WORK to eradicate sin! The gospel transforms the hearts of men. Instead of people dying in a flood, we died in Christ (2 Cor. 5:14-15). The mercy of God transformed Paul’s heart. God is not surprised that man sinned. He was not caught off God that we went off course. He had a plan to fix us before we were ever broken. He had all this planned because God is not dumb.