There's a very interesting expression that was used in Genesis 6:6:

"So God was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and He thought this over." (Genesis 6:6)

What does it mean for God to think this over?  This expression implies that God had made a mistake for Him to reconsider.  It implies that God erred and He needs to correct it.  It also implies that God is not all-knowing.  Moreover it strips God from His perfection in His plan and diminishes His wisdom.  This verse renders God prone to error which in turn would destroy our trust in Him.  What then?  Was it just poor choice of word from the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit knowingly and intentionally chose these words and there's a reason behind them.  God uses human expressions to relate to us what's in His heart.  A father explaining a complex situation to his 2 year old son or daughter would have to revert to terms familiar to his 2 year old, otherwise the message would be misunderstood or completely lost.  So too our heavenly Father trying to relate to us this situation He uses human terms.  The father of the 2 year old could chose to use adult terms in the explanation leaving his child completely lost, but that wouldn't be a loving thing to do.  Here however out of His Love, God used terms we can relate to in order to express the situation.  The father of the 2 year old also could simply just not explain anything to the child, but this too wouldn't be very loving.  In this case God could also just do what He was about to do without any explanation since He doesn't owe us anything.  However out of His love he involves us and reveals to us what's in His heart so that we could get to know Him better.

The verse above in Genesis is not the only verse that ascribes these human terms to God.  Here are other examples:

• "And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it.  As he was destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, 'It is enough; now restrain your hand.'" (I Chronicles 21:15)
• "Rend your heart and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate.  He is longsuffering and plenteous in mercy and repents of evils." (Joel 2:13)
• "So the Lord relented concerning this.  'This also shall not be,' said the Lord God." (Amos 7:6)
• "How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!" (Psalm 78:40)
• "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:26)

So all these expressions such as relenting, provoking, grieving, and thinking it over are all human terms.  But God out of His Love and humility chose to apply these expressions to Himself as well to relate to us and involve us in His thoughts.  He does this to make Himself approachable by us for He seeks a relation with us.  Just as a loving Father who wishes to share with His children everything that He does.