And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
Genesis 6:6 ESV
When we ask how a good God could allow pain and suffering, we’re typically referring to human pain and suffering. However, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard someone talk about this topic in relation to God’s experience. It’s one thing to ask how a good God could create a world where pain and suffering would exist for the creatures He made. It’s quite another to ask why a good God would create a world where He experiences pain Himself.
So, what kind of pain does God experience (apart from the pain Jesus—“a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” Is. 53:3—experienced on earth)? Let’s compare God’s grief in Genesis 6:6 above with the grief of David when he heard that his son Absalom had been killed in battle as he led a rebellion against David.
And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
It was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.”
2 Samuel 18:33 – 19:2
The same Hebrew word used of God being grieved in Genesis 6 is used to describe David’s grieving over Absalom. These two stories are also similar. In David’s case, his son—made in his image if you will—rebelled with violence against David and was killed in the process.
Prior to the Flood, God’s human family (and supernatural—see Michael Heiser’s The Unseen Realm or chapters 9-10 of the Epic Gospel book), made in His image, rebelled in violence (Gen. 6:11-12) and corrupted the entire earth. To end the violence and corruption, God had to bring an end to mankind, starting over with Noah.
God grieves over those in rebellion in the same way as a father who loses a son. In David’s case (as in God’s prior to the Flood), he lost his son twice: once to rebellion and then with finality when Absalom was killed. God experiences the same thing but multiplied a million times over (at least in quantity if not also in quality).
Just as we experience and can give love in a way that is but a reflection of the love that God is (1 John 4:8), and just as we can only show grace and mercy because it is a small imitation of God’s greater grace and mercy (Ex. 34:6), my suspicion is that our experience of grief is but a shadow of the grief that God experiences.
God grieves over the violence of those created in His image and the corruption of His very good world. What else does He feel in regards to this?
God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
Psalm 7:11 ESV
If you feel indignant about the evil in the world or the pain caused by injustice, how much more is the heart of God agitated by it? Why would God knowingly put Himself through this kind of grief and agitation? If He could have prevented it, why didn’t He? And if He could stop it, why doesn’t He?
So what is He waiting for? Why does He keep letting pain go on, including His own?
Up Next: The Problem of Pain: 13. What is God Waiting For?
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