We are God’s vulnerable children: perhaps immature, sick, abused, homeless, mentally ill, unemployed, aging, or anxious. I worked as a deputy warden in a prison where young men came as first-time convicts. They looked innocent, but they had committed a crime (or crimes). Some of them had been abused prior to this point in their lives, and many were scared they’d be abused in prison, too. Their vulnerability was heartbreaking.
God is merciful to us in our weakness. If you read the story of Hagar in the book of Genesis, your heart may ache for her. She is sent away from home with her young son and no place to go. She’s thirsty and growing desperate. She loses hope. She walks away from her son because she cannot bear to watch him die. God hears the cries of Hagar and her son, provides the water they need, and gives her a promise for the future.
Jesus hears our cries as well, when all the doors seem closed. When we feel forsaken, forgotten, and vulnerable, Jesus has compassion on us. He has provided a way for us to keep going.