GOD is...
calm | "care-less" | elegant | faithful | happy | kindred | optimistic | passionate | valiant | vulnerable



God is vulnerable

Vulnerable (def):  able to be wounded; because of location/status, open to loss, injury, depreciation.

You and I are at risk on planet earth; nobody gets out alive!  We're vulnerable to myriad challenges that threaten us physically, mentally, social, and spiritually.  We're sitting ducks.

What about God? Is He vulnerable to ANYTHING?  No and Yes.

NO, God is not vulnerable!  He lives in unapproachable light.  No one in our earthen tent of flesh can see God and live.

 

But, YES, God is vulnerable, by choice and for 'a season'. 

1.  The first millisecond of God's pain came at the point in eternity past when He determined to create humanity.  WHY did God decide to create humanity?  Because when a healthy person (including God who never even had a runny nose, thankfully for us) is full of love and joy and blessing, you want to share it.  God has this huge mansion which astrophysicists call "the immeasurable universe".  He wants to fill it up with adopted children.  Not robots.  So He gave us a free will.  He knew that:

a. Lucipher, the most beautiful created angel, along with others would become prideful and vengeful, starting the first war against Almighty God!  (Not a smart plan.)  Lucipher lost; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:13-19).

b. Mankind, made in God's image, would also become prideful and disobedient.  It didn't take long.  Adam disobeyed God (Gen. 3).  Next, no fine fraternities, just fratricide; (Gen. 4).  Soon  "God saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The LORD was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain"; (Gen. 6:6).

God's heart was filled with pain.  That was "new" for Him, but He "knew" it was coming; just a matter of time and free will.

How about modern man?  Have we evolved to something higher?  Of course, if you discount a couple World Wars, injustice, the Pandora's box of physical violence, 21 ongoing civil wars at this moment (November 2005), etc.  Modern man is as murderous as Cain, and as narcissistic, glibly retorting:    Am I my brother's keeper? (Gen. 4:9).

c. Jesus, the best of Heaven, would pierce human history and be nailed for it, no thanks to the religious "good old boys" of the day, Caesar's convenient KKK.  No surprise.

Is God feel any less entwined in our hearts than the finest parent or friend?   No. He FEELS our pain intimately because of who He is.  "Jesus wept" (John 11:35).  This short narration merits long meditation.  Did God grieve?  Does He still, especially when He sees the suffering of His children?  Probably. 

He's NOT NOT NOT stoically locked into some Ivory Tower of distant space.  Jesus is Emmanuel, "God with us".  It's NOT just a name.  We never suffer alone.  This Lover of our soul promises: "I will never leave you or forsake you"  (Hebrews 13:5). 

The first millisecond of God's pain came at the point in eternity past when He determined to create humanity.  In the next millisecond (or at the same time?), the Prince of the Universe was requested and agreed to be the condemned scapegoat to forever abolish the penalty of humanity's sin; (Rev. 13:8). Christ was forsaken on the cross so that you and I wouldn't be; (Matthew 27:46; 2 Corinthians 5:21). 

This ULTIMATE VULNERABILITY of God is further heightened and maxed out a million lightyears by the fact that the suffering of the Savior is null and void for the individual too proud, too Lucipheric to receive it as a total gift of grace.  Can lost mankind through self actualization earn a place in God's forever, holy, glorious, transcendent Palace?  If so, "Christ died for nothing" (NIV); "Christ died in vain" (NASB); Galatians 2:21.

All the work has been "finished" (John 19:30) by the Lamb who took away the sins of the world; John 1:29.  The Lamb erased the penalty of sin forever, for those who repent and receive.  But there are those who will not repent; there are men who curse God even on their deathbeds; there are women who are too prideful to receive salvation even on their deathbeds.  When these FINAL ANSWERS are "NO", it's the final slap in the face to God, the faithful Friend, perfect Parent, courageous Coach, and Vulnerable Victor who won at Calvary, but lost anyhow.

God IS vulnerable.  Because He chose to be.  He's the gutsy God.