And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
Genesis 6:6
It didn't take very long - roughly nine generations, albeit very, very long generations - for man to take things from the "very good" of the initial creation to the point where "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" - Genesis 6:5. The evil was so great it moved God to begin the process of reversing His creation.
While God has promised not to wipe us out by a flood again, He is still grieved over our behavior. Willful, disobedient, stubborn, prideful - if you have any doubt about man's wickedness, read Romans 1:21 - 32. We haven't changed much.
Every time we sin, God is grieved, He suffers. The anguish parents feel when a much loved child takes a path of flagrant disobedience is a pale shadow of that which God feels when we thumb our noses at His perfect, loving guidance and run off on our own sinful ways. His pain is redoubled, as He has already sacrificed His own Son to pay the penalty for our transgressions; our continued disobedience throws that sacrifice back in His face.
It turns out that I am reading the passage from Romans in church this coming Sunday. As I've done every time I've read it, I plan to spend some time this week praying through the verses, examining my own heart. While Paul is describing those who do not know Christ, the echoes of the old nature in the redeemed will pull us back into those sins at any opportunity.
I don't want to give God any cause to grieve.
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