Written on May 16th, 2007 - 4:06PM Last Updated: May 16th, 2007 - 4:06PM
Yahweh is Love. Therefore, when the objects of His love do not walk in that same love, He is hurt by it. When He sees those whom He loves walking in hatred, anger, murder, and everything else that denies His nature, He is grieved in His very Heart.
5Yahweh 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. 6Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. (Genesis 6:5-6)
This testimony of scripture reveals Yahweh as truly interested in His creation. He made Man to be His glory, to show forth His wonderful nature and power; but Man had chosen another way, to try to be independent of God and to please his own fleshly nature at the expense of the lives of others. Because of this, scripture testifies that Yahweh was grieved in His Heart. However, the Hebrew underlying this translation is more graphic and specific.
Literally, it says that "Yahweh caused pain to His Heart." The Hebrew verb for "grieve" has several meanings, including to hurt, pain, grieve, displease, vex, wrest. In this instance it is also in the hiphil conjugation, which is reflexive. That means that God did this to Himself; He didn't do it to another nor did it happen to Him by another. Rather, He caused grief or pain. But what was the object? His Heart!
The Heart is the seat of emotion, of feeling and the soul. As King Solomon says, out of it are the wellsprings of life (Proverbs 4:23). The descriptions of and teachings concerning the heart of man reflect the real truth of the Heart, as the Inner Person of God the Father.
Looking back to ancient Hebrew and knowing that the letters themselves were pictures of something and represented a basic idea, we can gather the deeper meaning of "heart" in Hebrew: it is the inner dwelling of taking direction.
Again looking to the deeper meaning of the words used here, "to grieve" is made up of three letters meaning "Eye, Fish Hook, Inner Dwelling." Because of this fact, the word is sometimes used in scripture to mean "to shape, fashion, form" in addition to the more common "to grieve, pain, hurt." One could see a meaning of an inner watch-and-wait mentality in order to snare something.
God caused pain to His own Heart because of what Man was doing. He had desired certain things for Man, but he was not cooperating. Therefore, Yahweh decided to change the direction that Man was taking, and in the process, although a short-term change of direction in respect to Yahweh's original plan, ultimately would guide Man back to the ideal—that of reflecting the nature of God in being righteous and showing mercy.
As we know from the rest of the story, mankind and all land-dwelling animals were wiped out by the flood that soon followed (Genesis 6:7). God chose a man, Noah, who had been doing good and walking in the light of Yahweh; therefore he found grace in God's sight because he was in fact searching for it. He was consciously living rightly, as he was created by God to do (Genesis 6:8-9).
But to get to this point, it began with the Heart—Yahweh's. He grieved His Heart in order to cause Himself to do what He didn't desire (destroy Man) so that His true desire (the exultation of Man) might eventually be fulfilled (as later accomplished through the work of His Son made flesh, Who came through the lineage of this man, Noah).
Yahweh reveals that sometimes it is necessary to suffer in order to bring good.
But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "Don't fear what they fear, neither be troubled."{Isaiah 8:12} For it is better, if it is God's will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil. (1 Peter 3:14, 17)
Because Man has often chosen evil over good, he has brought a whole way of life into the world that should have never existed. This causes decisions to be made that should never have been a consideration; but the goodness of God demands they be made in order that His will ultimately comes to pass.
We, imitating Him, see what is happening and have to snare ourselves inside so that we might change course. This can actually be a good thing when done to oneself, because we are ready for it and know it is for the best. When it is done to us by someone else (they grieve us), its meaning can become more clear. We do not enjoy being snared or hunted by something or someone else when we don't know what their intentions are. It causes us pain and grief. But when we are confronted with a need to change direction, we sometimes must cause ourselves pain in the process of making that change.
This is the kind of God that we were created to serve: one Who is willing to cause Himself grief in order to see His will done. And what is His will concerning us, but for good and for our union with Him? We don't need to fear that He will leave us to ourselves, to drown in our own sin and sorrow and guilt, but that He loves us so much that He will go to great lengths to see us filled with the joy of our reason for being.
How much then should we imitate Him, being willing to cause pain to our heart for a time, in order to see good happen!
For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn't behave ourselves rebelliously among you, (2 Thessalonians 3:7)
11We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, 12that you won't be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherited the promises. (Hebrews 6:11-12)
Beloved, don't imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn't seen God. (3 John 1:11)
You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the HolySpirit, (1 Thessalonians 1:6)
Last Accessed: May 9th, 2025 - 10:56PM
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The Good Message
As you read this site, you will hopefully come to know Yahweh more fully.
But all of this continuing knowledge is useless unless and until you come into union with Him. I use the word union because it is truly a marriage. It is that deep connection we all seek, for which we most often look in other people. However, the truth is that our hearts will only be fulfilled when we enter that union in fullness with the One Who made us.
This is the grace of God, that He has not stayed distant for us only to worship as Creator. But He has come unto us, even become one of us—in His Son, ChristJesus—in order to share an intimate union with us. He desires such closeness that it truly will envelope our entire life, transforming us into something new and wonderful.
You may have already entered this union with Him and only seek to know Him better through reading here. But if you have not, as you do read, let this Gospel sink into your heart as you read it now.
God loves you, and has cast your sins into the sea. He has sent His only Son as the Savior of the world—that includes you.
That Son, JesusChrist, was born as a man through a virgin who had given her life to Yahweh; He lived without sin, reflected the glory of His Father, God, in all His words and deeds, and was persecuted even unto death because of it.
His death upon a cross was the powerful explosion that separated you from your life of death. It remains for you, now, to enter into that death with Him. As you die to the one you are now, a person separated from God from your many sins, you will be born anew, with a nature predisposed to live rightly. This gift is free to you, with nothing you can do to earn it. It is the mercy of God to offer it to you, as He loves you so much! All you must do is receive it by trusting Him to have delivered you. Simply place your life in His hands and embrace the freedom that came through that death on the cross.
The Gospel is that Jesus did not remain dead, but rose again on the third day after His crucifixion! Death could not hold Him, as He was without sin. And so death will not be able to hold you, as you identify with Him fully through your trust in Him. Let go of yourself and confess Him as Lord of your life. The power of His death and resurrection will work in you all that your Creator has destined for you. You will truly enter a new life and experience that intimate union you have been seeking all of your life.
So ponder these words as you read here of this great God—Yahweh—and all that He has revealed to His creation. Let His Spirit testify to your heart that these words are true, that God is Love, and that He sent His Son so that you might receive the life that is unbound by time and space. As you feel that witness in your heart, simply believe and receive what He is offering to you, even now, and begin your new life as a child of God.
Please write to me and let me know when you take this step, as I will be your brother in Christ—we will be one in Him!
Scripture Quotes: World English Bible Translation.
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