Another entry from Plough got me to thinking...

----------------------------------------------------------
I'm still so remote from God that I don't even sense his presence when I pray. Sometimes when I utter God's name, in fact, I feel like sinking into a void. It isn't a frightening or dizzying sensation, it's nothing at all - and that's far more terrible. But prayer is the only remedy for it, and however many devils scurry around inside me, I shall cling to the rope God has thrown me, even if my numb hands can no longer feel it.

God's Rope, Sophie Scholl , Excerpted from Cries from the Heart by Johann Christoph Arnold
----------------------------------------------------------

If knowing God were merely an intellectual pursuit the above quote would be most pitiable. But knowing God is not merely an intellectual pursuit. Sure, intellect is important—it is, after all, part of God’s creation—but it is not most important. We are dealing with this in the young adult ministry at the church I attend. Two “givens.” One, loving God is something that invades (or should invade) our entire being and given. Two, God has put his people here as just that—his people—a community, not a collection of individuals. Given these truths, what does this sort of love-invaded life look like? How do we as a community—local and global—encourage this sort of love-invaded life? I am beginning to realize that knowing God is a whole lot messier than is commonly thought. I think of incidents like Jacob wrestling the angel; Nicodemas sitting clueless as Jesus explains spiritual reality; Moses terrified before the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob revealed in a burning bush; the people of Israel cowering as Moses enters the deep darkness where God was; Jeremiah weeping as he sees the terrible destruction of Jerusalem; and David mourning the loss of his son--these incidents tell us more about knowing God than we usually care to know.