A Vulnerable God

I’ve been listening to the book The God Who Weeps by Terryl and Fiona Givens, and they suggest that the God we worship is a “vulnerable” God.  What they mean by that is that His happiness and sorrow is related to our choices and actions.  Unlike the God of the Nicene Creed who is described as being without passions, the God we believe in as Latter-day Saints experiences love, joy, and sorrow as it relates to His children.  The most poignant example of this in scripture is the vision of Enoch: “And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept.”  Enoch was so surprised by this that he questioned the Lord, “How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” (Moses 7:28-29)  Because God is all powerful, all knowing, and perfectly good, Enoch had assumed that He would not ever experience sorrow.  But this vision showed that even though He is a perfect Being, He still weeps over the bad choices of His children. Perhaps the description of the three Nephites fits all heavenly beings: “Ye shall not have pain… neither sorrow save it be for the sins of the world” (3 Nephi 28:9). God does not sorrow because of His own choices or circumstances, but He does mourn the suffering of His children.

               I think we see evidence of this “vulnerability” in several places in the scriptures.  For example, in the allegory of the olive tree, the “Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?...  But what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it?…  It grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard” (Jacob 5:41, 47).  Here we see the great anguish that the Lord of the vineyard—and thus God—has over how the vineyard has become corrupted.  In another place in the Book of Mormon after Christ’s resurrection, He came among the Nephites and taught them.  He was in a perfect, glorified state and yet we read that at one point, “Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel” (3 Nephi 17:14).  Even though Christ had a perfect, glorified body, He still wept for the wickedness of the house of Israel.  That same anguish was seen in His lament over the people’s wickedness: “O ye people of these great cities which have fallen, who are descendants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you” (3 Nephi 10:4).  Clearly the Savior experiences deep feelings and great sorrow when the people reject Him. 

               The God that we worship is one who loves us so perfectly that He feels sorrow for the suffering and sin of the world.  Far from being immune to such feelings, He lets himself be vulnerable and feels them deeper than us mortals because His care and concern for His children is so powerful.