I’m sorry I made Saul king because he stopped following me and didn’t execute my words.
The Glory of Israel does not lie or repent, for it is not a man to repent.
- After Saul disobeyed Samuel.
- God said.
- “I regret making Saul king.
- Why did he stop following me and did not execute my words?”(1 Samuel 15:11).
- Some argued: Because God repented of the things He did.
- He might not foresee what was going to happen.
- Why would God repent or return if He knew in advance the consequences of His decision?.
This, however, is not a persuasive argument against God’s prescience. First, because the argument admits that God could not regret a situation that He himself resolved to produce. That is not true in human experience; Moreover, (especially) God’s heart is capable of complex combinations of emotions infinitely more remarkable than our own. You may be able to cry over the things you’ve decided to make exist.
Not only that, God can also look back, contemplate the very act of doing this event and, in one respect, regret this act, while affirming it as best, in another respect. For example, if I discipline my child for bold disobedience and run away from home because I discipline him, can I feel remorse for this discipline?not in the sense that I disapprove of what I did, but in the sense that I am saddened by the fact that discipline was a necessary part of a wise way of dealing with the situation, and yet discipline led my son to leave home. If I had to deal with the same situation, I’d discipline you again, because that would be the best I could do. I know that one of the consequences could be my son’s momentary departure, I approved of discipline and, at the same time, I regretted it, if this combination of emotions can accompany my own decisions, it is not difficult to imagine that the infinite Spirit of God is capable of something similar.
Now the question is: does the Bible teach that God repents of some of his decisions in the sense I described in the previous paragraph (which does not mean that he does not know the future consequences)?Or does the Bible teach that God repents of some of his choices?your decisions because you didn’t know what was going to happen?
The answer lies in 1 Samuel 15. After the Lord said, “Do I regret making Saul king?(V. 11), Samuel said, to clarify, “The glory of Israel does not lie, nor repent, is he not a man to repent?(v. 29). The teaching of this verse seems to be that although there is a meaning in which God repents (v. 11), there is another meaning that clarifies that he does not repent (v. 29). What is the difference?The solution is given in words ?, that is, when God repents, is not characterized by limitations typical of men, the difference would be that God’s repentance occurs despite his perfect prescience, while most human repentance occurs because of lack of prescience. God’s way of repenting is unique to himself. Isn’t God a man to repent? (the way man repents in his ignorance of the future).
When God says, “I regret making Saul king,” it is not the same as saying “I would not have made him king if he had known it was going to happen. “God may feel sadness for an act He has even done in the face of his prior knowledge of evil and pain, but he continues the act and performs it for wise reasons. And later, when he looks at his past act, he feels sad that the act has led to sad reactions, such as Saul’s Disobedience.
So, we have our precious 23. 19 Number Warranty:?God is not a man, to whom He must lie; nor the son of a man to repent. You didn’t promise, did you? Or, after you talk, won’t you fill it?I call it precious because, as this verse clarifies this question that 1 Samuel 15:29, God’s commitment to his promises depends on his ability not to repent as a man. In words, God’s promises are not in danger, because God can foresee all circumstances. He knows that nothing will happen that leads him to fall on his promises. It’s the rest of our soul.
Devotion of John Piper’s book Provai e Vede
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