Vulnerability in Scripture: What Does God Say About Being Vulnerable?

Hiding can feel like protection, but Scripture tells a different story. Today we are digging into biblical vulnerability and why God so often meets us in the exact places we want to cover up. If you’ve ever wondered whether being “vulnerable” is wise, biblical, or just another pressure to overshare, this conversation gives you language, clarity, and a foundation you can actually build on.

We start by defining vulnerability as exposure with risk, then separate authenticity from vulnerability so we don’t confuse honesty with indiscriminate access. From there, we trace the theme through the Bible: Genesis shows openness without shame in the Garden, and then sin introduces hiding, fear, and the kind of shame that says “I am wrong.” That same shame still tempts us to keep weakness out of God’s presence, even though he already knows us fully and invites us closer with the question, “Where are you?”

We also look at how God uses weakness as a doorway to dependence. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12:9 anchor the heart of the message: God’s grace is sufficient, and his power is made perfect in weakness. Finally, we turn to Jesus as the ultimate example of surrendered vulnerability. Philippians 2 shows him laying down status to serve, and we see the cross as the obedient vulnerability. 

We also talk about boundaries, wise levels of access, and what it means to become a safe person who protects other people’s vulnerability.

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Transcript

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Welcome And Why Vulnerability Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Table of Grace podcast, where every woman has a seat, every story matters, and Jesus is always at the center. We're here to create space for real conversations and faith-filled stories that help you grow in your walk with Jesus. So grab your favorite cup of coffee and pull up a chair, because at his table, there's always a seat for you.

Tessah 0:30

Hello, it's Tessa Loveke here. Happy Table of Grace Tuesday. And sadly, I am hosting by myself today. Courtney has a little bit of a cold and is trying to get over that. So I'm recording for you guys today in a solo episode. And we are still diving into the topic that we said we were going to talk about this week, and that is vulnerability in scripture. And what does God say about being vulnerable? Guys, I am so excited for this episode. It's gonna be so good, and it really is going to give us a little bit of a foundation to build off of. And that's kind of you'll kind of see this theme uh throughout this season. We're kind of going brick by brick, layer by layer, talking about vulnerability because it is such a multifaceted type of topic. Um, and there's so many different ways that we can be vulnerable in our relationships, in our horizontal relationships, in our vertical relationships with God, with ourself. Um, and there's just so many layers to that as we know. And today I really wanted to hit on what scripture says about being vulnerable because I think we all have a lot of different worldviews, we have a lot of different um backgrounds that we come from, whether that is from a church or a religion, or even just things that we learned in our homes about vulnerability and what that looked like. And it doesn't, that doesn't always mean that what we were taught lines up with what God says in his scriptures. Um, and that's what I really wanted to hit on today. And this is something I am even learning in real time. Um, I'm doing a lot of research um and just diving in. I am not a theologian, um, and so I am asking for grace in this. Um, but I feel like I have learned so much in this just through studying it. Um, and I'm super excited to share what I have learned. Um, and next week Courtney will be back on the podcast with me, and I plan to do a little bit of a recap with her amazing therapeutic lens in application to this. So let's go ahead and dive

Defining Vulnerability And Real Risk

Tessah 2:49

in. So when we hear the word vulnerability, we tend to think about sharing our feelings, telling someone our story, admitting we're struggling, and allowing ourselves to be truly known. But what does biblical vulnerability actually look like? And interesting enough, um, the Bible doesn't necessarily use the word vulnerability the way we use it today. Instead, throughout scripture, we see words and themes along the lines of weakness, humility, infirmity, dependence, surrender, exposure, sacrifice. And when we start looking at vulnerability through that lens, we realize it's really woven throughout the entire story of scripture. And the question I even had is how do we see vulnerability, humility, and weakness connect together? And what does God actually say about those? So we're gonna break those down a little bit. So, first, what is vulnerability? And I think we talked a little bit about this on the first episode, but I wanted to kind of redefine it, not redefine it, but like re mention what the definition is. Um so, at its simplest form, vulnerability is the state of being exposed to the possibility of being hurt, harmed, rejected, or affected. Ultimately, we know that there is risk involved in being vulnerable. Um, you've probably experienced that in your life, in your relationships. You're allowing yourself to be exposed, you're giving someone access to something they could potentially reject, misunderstand, or hurt. Um, this is where vulnerability really begins connecting to humility. Um, vulnerability often requires us to willingly give up some level of control, protection, status, or self-preservation. And that doesn't mean biblical vulnerability requires having zero boundaries. I really think it means that we need we are willing to say, God, I trust you to be fully, I trust you enough to be fully known by you, obedient to you, obedient to the people that you've called me to be open with, even if that requires something from me. And we I'll dive into this a little bit later in the episode, but we see this modeled so beautifully in the life of Jesus and in his sacrifice for us. Um then I also wanted to look at authenticity versus vulnerability. Um, so these two things are very much connected, but they're not exactly the same. Authenticity is being truthful and um honest about who you are. Um, it's something that even like myself, like I try to be um like I have it's almost like a life motto motto in a way, or like something that I really live by is being the same person um in every room you walk in, you know, like being the same person behind closed doors as you are in front of people. And I think there's a lot of um spiritual work that happens for that to be a possibility. Like that the only reason I'm able to even practice that um honestly is because of the work that Jesus has done in me. Um, vulnerability in comparison to authenticity is allowing yourself to be known when there's something at stake. So I can't authentically tell you something about myself without necessarily being vulnerable. Like I can really say, like, I absolutely love Dr. Pepper. Um, I am a Dr. Pepper fan. I it's like my favorite soda. Um I would be so sad if someone told me I could not drink it anymore for whatever reason. Um, but that's not necessarily being vulnerable. Um, it's not sharing like a deep um rooted or exposing a deeper um reason to something in order to like go even deeper in a relationship. Like you can have very much like authentic relationships without without having vulnerable relationships, and in most faces, that is wise and healthy. Um, but I think what we run into, especially as women, is that we are vulnerable with no one. We're not vulnerable with ourselves, we don't allow ourselves to be vulnerable with others, and we definitely don't allow ourselves to be vulnerable with God, or we only allow ourselves to be vulnerable with others, and we don't allow ourselves to be vulnerable with God. Or I feel like we can fall in a few of these different camps, we are super vulnerable with God, but we are not vulnerable with others. Um, and there is this beautiful thing that God wants to do in our lives where we um he wants us to have fellowship with others, like and have relationships. Like he has within, like we see within scripture himself, God actually has community and like fellowship within himself, within the trinity of who he is. God is the Father, God is the Son, God is the Holy Spirit. And I'm not gonna take you in a theological class to um dive into the Trinity um because that's like a lifelong um journey to learn and to even partially understand it. But um we see that God has been in community with himself since the beginning of time. I mean, he even talks about we see that we language in Genesis where like let's let us create. Um, and so God wants us to be able to have those relationships. Yes, vulnerability with him first, but have those Christ-centered relationships where we can be vulnerable with each other um in a healthy, holy way. Um vulnerability begins when sharing, surrender, confessing, asking, admitting, or obeying requires me to risk something. And honestly, authenticity can be a pre prerequisite to vulnerability, but vulnerability does require exposure.

Eden Openness Then Shame And Hiding

Tessah 8:32

Um, diving into number two, vulnerability starts at the beginning of scripture. So, one of our first pictures we have of complete openness is actually in the Garden of Eden, which is so cool. Genesis 2.25, we see Adam and Eve were completely naked and felt no shame, no shame towards each other, and no shame with God the Father. Um, and so before sin enters the world, there's a complete openness between humanity, one another, and God, which doesn't that sound so amazing? Um they were fully known, they were fully exposed, there was no shame attached to that exposure. The foundation of intimacy was actually being fully known without hiding. And then, of course, we unfortunately see Genesis 3 happen, and we see an enemy, a serpent, enters a story and exploits that openness through temptation, deception, and half-truths, and then sin enters into the world, and the first response we see in the first man and woman is that they hide, there is shame, there's covering, there is fear associated with being exposed. Um, and I think there's really an interesting connection here. Sin makes us want to hide the very things God wants us to bring into his presence. Um, and I think that is a tactic of the enemy that he is still using today, and we can see that if you really dig deep, you can see that so much in your own life and in the lives of others. What we see God ask after the question, we talked about this on the podcast too, is he asked, Where are you? Not because God didn't know where they were, but because they were hiding. And instead of that openness and that trust that they felt with the Lord when sin entered in, that's when shame entered. Um, and we see such a correlation of shame um throughout scripture um in correlation to sin. Um, and we still see it today. The enemy will constantly use shame. Um, and obviously we talked about this too, but the difference between guilt is I did something wrong and shame is I am something wrong. And as image bearers, um shame is the last thing that God like shame doesn't come from the Lord, like shame comes from our sin nature, it comes from the enemy. Um, and we can see that I know personally for me, I can see that so much over and over again in my own life. Um, and that can also be a touch point where vulnerability is hard because there has been shame associated with that. Um, and I will let Courtney talk on that in a different episode because she's more of the expert than I am. Um I think we can also ask her question how often do we respond to shame the same way that Adam and Eve did? Instead of bringing our weakness to God, we cover it, and instead of admitting that we're struggling with something, we hide. And instead of allowing ourselves to be fully known, which we already are, we end up protecting ourselves even from the God that fully knows us and created us.

Weakness Humility And God’s Power

Tessah 11:41

Number three is that God often meets his people in their weaknesses. Um, so throughout scripture, God repeatedly allows his people to come to places where their own strength isn't enough. I mean, we see that time and time again, especially as God is walking the really guiding the Israelites through the Old Testament out of Egypt towards the promised land, um, even right out of Egypt, when Pharaoh changes his mind, and we see in the Exodus, we see um the Israelites are it literally escaping Egypt and they get to the Red Sea, and God through works through Moses um to split the waters. I mean, how vulnerable can like how much more vulnerable can you be? But you are between an ocean or a sea, I guess technically a sea, um, and an entire army that is ready to kill you. Like, how much more does God show up in strength and his strength is made perfect in our weakness? Like, that is I mean, right on the money in that story. Because honestly, our weaknesses, like it did for the Israelites, exposes our human limitations. We can't fix it, we can't control it, we can't accomplish it ourselves. That's exactly where dependence begins. And speaking of, Paul talks a lot about this in 2 Corinthians 12, 9 through 10. And Paul talks about his weakness and God's response, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Paul then says he will boast all the more gladly about his weakness so that Christ's power may rest on him. And I would say this completely contradicts the way that the world often views vulnerability. The world tells us often to like hide your weakness, prove yourself, protect yourself, appear strong, fake it till you make it. Um, but scripture really shows us that your weakness can become the very place where God's strength is revealed, which is honestly so um affirming to me. Uh, because I think sometimes we want to do anything but show weakness. I know for me, like I don't want to talk about my weaknesses. I want to be good at everything, and I want to be um, you know, even the things I'm not good at, I want to get better at. And that's probably just my overachiever mindset. Um, but I think it's there's so much power in stepping into knowing that like my weakness can become the very place where God's strength is revealed through my life. Um, and to show and lift up his name and his glory. And I've experienced this, but sometimes God allows us to reach the end of ourselves because that's where we finally recognize our need for him. Vulnerability before God says, I cannot do this without you, and humility says, I'm no longer going to pretend that I can. Um, and that that's a humbling statement in itself. So, to kind of round that up, how does humility, weakness, and vulnerability kind of connect? Weakness recognizes our limitations, humility acknowledges our rightful position before God. Vulnerability is our willingness to be exposed, known, dependent, or obedient despite the risk involved. Together, they move us away from this selfish sufficiency mindset and towards full dependence on God. And one of the greatest examples of humility that we see in scripture isn't actually humanity humbling itself before God, it's actually God Himself choosing to come near to humanity. And that jumps right into number five is that Jesus is the ultimate example of vulnerability.

Jesus Models Vulnerability With Purpose

Tessah 15:27

And I had to include, you know, the very famous John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. And this actually goes into 17. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. And I think that is such a clear picture of Jesus is willingly stepping into humanity. And I love what Paul says in Philippians 2. Um, I actually landed on this as I was just like studying and researching, um, and it's so good. Um, so Paul tells believers to have the same mindset as Christ in Philippians 2. Jesus, and we see that Jesus, although he was a form of God, did not use his equality with God for his own advantage. Instead, we see he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, and then he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even on a cross. And that's you can read in that as Philippians 2, 5 through 8. And what I thought was really interesting here is I have a ESV study Bible, and the Greek verb used here is I'm totally gonna butcher the way you say this, but it's kino or kino. I think it's k-e-n-o-o, meaning to empty or to make empty. So we see in the context of Philippians 2 that the picture isn't that Jesus stopped being God, rather, he refused to exploit his divine status for his own advantage and took the position of a servant. This gives us such a powerful picture of vulnerability and humility that Jesus willingly laid down status and privilege in order to serve. He enters into humanity, he experienced hunger, exhaustion, grief, rejection, betrayal, pain, and ultimately death. The cross becomes the ultimate picture of vulnerability because Jesus willingly lays himself down in obedience to the Father and his love for you and me. We also see, and we're gonna dive a little bit deeper into this probably next episode, because I really kind of want to show in Scripture where we see different people. Obviously, yes, Jesus is a the perfect example of this, but also where we see different people in scripture um really model vulnerability um on a this human level, um, and kind of even like where God meets them in their vulnerable places. So I do want to do another episode that kind of dives deeper into that. Um, but again, for the sake of this episode, we're kind of just scratching the scriptural surface of vulnerability as a whole in scripture. Um, but yes, Jesus does definitely model vulnerability through his entire ministry. Um I really love his vulnerability in um him and the Samaritan woman. You know, he intentionally travels through, he travels through Samaritan Samarit Samaria, gosh, words are hard, and sits at a well and culturally, religiously, like there are so many different gender and social barriers too that would have normally separated them, um, him and the Samaritan woman. Jewish Jews usually in that time and in that culture avoided Samaria. But Jesus in so many different places in scripture always is crossing these barriers to reach his kids, his daughters and his sons. Um and if you listen to the good girl complex series, we talk, we have a whole episode on the Samaritan woman, but he actually explicitly explicitly identifies himself as a messiah to her, um, and has this amazing, really actually vulnerable conversation with her. And he actually you can see him through this conversation inviting her into vulnerability. I definitely challenge you to go and read that. It's in John 4, it's such a good story. Um, but we see this woman who enters into this well, um, she leaves a different person after her conversation with Jesus, and um it's just so cool to see how Jesus allowing himself to be vulnerable actually invites her to be vulnerable too, um, and to have an open conversation that actually leads to her proclaiming the gospel. So that's really cool. I love that, and I hope to dive a little deeper into that in a different episode. Um ultimately we see the biggest act of vulnerability and obedience through the cross. Um, Jesus' ultimate act of vulnerability wasn't vulnerability for vulnerability's sake, it was vulnerability and obedience. Um, and that's a very important distinction. Biblical vulnerability isn't simply everyone deserves access to every part of me. Jesus himself demonstrates boundaries throughout his ministry. We actually see a lot of times where Jesus is very vulnerable and open with his disciples, yet limits that access to different people groups or the Pharisees who are trying to manipulate and attack him. Um we also see that instead biblical vulnerability asks God, What are you asking me to surrender, share, confess, risk, or expose in obedience to you? Jesus knew the cost of the cross, he knew the suffering, he knew the rejection, and yet he willingly surrendered himself to the Father's will. Biblical vulnerability isn't reckless exposure, it's surrender exposure. And I think there are times where God will call us to put ourselves um in vulnerable situations. I think often he will do this because it again there is power like in allowing ourselves to be weak. His strength is shown through that, and we are called to be vessels of his glory and his goodness and his gospel. And sometimes it's hard to do that without putting ourselves in a position to be exposed, to mess up, to be misunderstood, especially if you've ever shared the gospel with someone or shared your faith. Um, you are always almost opening yourself. Up to be misunderstood or to be um criticized or ridiculed or um you know fill in the blank. Um and what I also love just about God Himself is that he calls us from even in the Old Testament, we see this um to protect the vulnerable too.

Protecting The Vulnerable With Wise Boundaries

Tessah 22:23

The Bible doesn't only show us how to be vulnerable, it actually repeatedly tells God's people how to respond to people who are vulnerable. Throughout both the Old and New Testament, God repeatedly expresses concern for widows, orphans, the poor, foreigners, strangers, the oppressed, people without social power or protection. And we see this in Deuteronomy, we see this in the Psalms, we see this in Isaiah, we see this in James, and this should remind us something so important about God's character is that God doesn't exploit vulnerability, he in instead protects the vulnerable. And if we're becoming more like Christ, we should become people who are safe with other people's vulnerability too. And that really changes the question from am I willing to be vulnerable and exposed to also am I someone that other people can safely be vulnerable with? Um, and I would even observe like when people are vulnerable with you, is your first response to go and tell someone else? Is it is your first response to um judge them or be judgmental towards them? Um, or is your first response in acting in love and kindness and even praying over that person? I think like that's a heart posture we have to have, and I'm nowhere near perfect at this by any means. Um and I also think being someone that other people can be safely vulnerable with is also modeling a level of vulnerability yourself. Um, and obviously in wisdom doing that, not sharing, not everyone, everyone doesn't need access to all of you. Like there are safe places to do that, but I also think there are places where God is calling you to share your testimony or calling you to share something that he's done in your life that is vulnerable, um, that needs to be shared in specific situations, places, people groups, um, church groups, Bible studies, like and he's been calling you to do it, and you have been holding back because you are scared of the vulnerability. And I would just challenge you to really go to God with that and to ask him where he wants you to share um the things he's been asking you to share, um, and to do that wisely and see even seeking wise, safe counsel in that. And I would also like love to dive into just a little bit about what biblical vulnerability is not, because I think that's very important. Um there, this is where wisdom and boundaries are really, really important. Um, biblical vulnerability is not does not mean everyone gets access to you, that you have to publicly share every part of your story, that you have to disclose everything that you're going through, that you can't have boundaries, that you must remain in an unsafe situation, you have to turn every word into con every wound into a message or content. There's a difference between obedient vulnerability and indiscriminate exposure. Jesus himself had different levels of relationships. Um, there were large crowds that followed him, there were disciples, there were the 12, then there were Peter, James, and John. Not everyone received the same level of access. Now, of course, as we are, as Christ has died and we all do have access to him. I want to make that super clear. Obviously, within his ministry, we see that Jesus did have boundaries and had different levels of deepness and closeness in relationship because although he was 100% God, he was also a hundred percent man. Um, and so we even see his humanity in that is that he, you know, couldn't have like physically couldn't give access to everyone, and like he still modeled wisdom in who he was vulnerable with. Um, but praise be to God that he went to the cross and Jesus went to the cross for us so that we all have this access to God through him. Um I would say too, like the question that you might be asking isn't how vulnerable should I be? I think the better question we can ask is God, where are you asking me to stop hiding and where are you asking me to use wisdom in being vulnerable?

Reflection Questions And Final Encouragement

Tessah 26:46

Um and a few questions to also maybe think on yourself as you are pondering vulnerability, what scripture says about it, what we talked about today? I would just like kind of think about these things, maybe even write them down if you have a journal um or a notebook close by. But where have you confused vulnerability with oversharing? Is there a weakness you've been asking God to remove that he may actually want to use? Are you trying to appear strong in an area that God is asking you to become dependent to? What would vulnerability with God actually look like for you right now? Are you a safe person for someone else's vulnerability? And I think the biggest question we can ask ourselves today is what would it look like to allow vulnerability to become an act of obedience rather than something that you are afraid of or ashamed of? And ultimately, what I want you guys to get out of this episode is that when we release vulnerability to the Lord and we allow God to use our stories, our testimonies, we're obedient to what he's calling us to. We have this amazing opportunity to see him move in our lives and the lives of other people, and even see him show strength in our weaknesses, and again, we see that over and over and over again throughout all of scripture. And I want to leave you guys with this verse again, it's the 2 Corinthians 12 9. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And I hope that encourages you guys today. I am super excited to continue this season. I'm excited to have Courtney on back on next week. Um, and if you love this episode, please send it to a friend. Um, send it to maybe a coworker or a family member or just someone that you think would really benefit from this episode. And please feel free to share this episode on your Instagram, on your Facebook, and tag us on Instagram at Table of Grace or on Facebook at Table of Grace Podcast. We would love to hear what you got from this episode and that you're listening. Guys, we are so thankful for each and every one of you, and we hope you have an amazing week, and we will see you guys next Tuesday.