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Nobody can explain it, though thousands have tried. We can’t even describe it.

There is ample evidence in Scripture that it goes far back into human history. It’s more than mere records of conversations with God. Just who is going to describe how that took place? When modern Western Christians read about “God said…” they just assume it had to come via some means that would register on the intellect.

It does not; it cannot. The intellect is simply not equipped for such things. And while I might cite evidence in Scripture for that viewpoint, the cerebral bias of Westerners will prevent them believing it. While I have no trouble convincing most modern believers that there is a union and communion of the Holy Spirit with our spirits — they sense it first hand — I cannot seem to convince very many that the heart is its own sensory organ where any actual conversation with God takes place. Instead, we are loaded up with meaningless metaphors.

As I’ve noted in the past, this willful blindness contributes to a boatload of bullshit being blamed on God. That is, people will insist that God told them this or that, things wholly and easily contrary to His revealed character. What happens is that we know instinctively that God does not speak to the intellect, but Western Christianity has stolen from believers the sensory heart, so they are left with vague impressions that are largely emotional in nature. In other words, virtually the entire range of “spiritual” is nothing more than mere emotion mixed with some very deeply perverted understandings that leak out of the heart, a heart trying desperately to be heard over the commotion.

This makes it very, very hard to help folks heal from those Job moments when we know of a certitude that something has driven a wedge between us and God. Those moments do come; it’s part of our human experience here on this earth. Critical to understanding that is recognizing when the unspeakable communion is taken away. We know something is very wrong, and clinical depression is the least of our worries at that moment. For while that deep sense of loss roars in our soul’s receptors, what matters is that we are not where God intended. Something internally has shifted off course.

As with Job, we might well stand with a clean conscience. It’s not a question of gross error, of sin that offends God directly. Rather, we are simply not hearing from God as before. You’ll notice that Scripture never actually explains that. Even the glimpse into Satan’s court intrigues in the Book of Job don’t really explain much. It’s a parable meant to show us something else, not really why those times of separation come. If you read Job with a Western bias, you’ll miss the point and inject all sorts of nonsense into the narrative. Instead, it is and should remain inscrutable. The whole point is, “Hey, this shit happens.”

The question is what to do about it. More, it’s how to survive and get to the other side. For those passing through it, there is no “other side.” Even if they have been taught it, in that moment there is only that moment for them. Reality is confined to their misery. You cannot tell them otherwise. Rather, it is we who are called alongside to help that must know beyond all doubt that there is a far end to this thing. A major element in the narrative of Job is to notify fellow believers that they have an obligation to be of sound understanding themselves and be prepared to actually help, not act like Job’s trio of “friends.”

At this point I come to the deepest sadness of all: How many people do you know who sense the moral sphere with their hearts? Are they not most all like Job’s pals? My friends, this the real task before us. All of my railing against Western Civilization and the attendant Western Christianity is ended when we can awaken the awareness, and then develop the habit of living from the heart, not the head. Because living from the heart makes those Job moments a lot more tolerable when they come.

That puts you in the position of walling yourself away from some of the emotional clamor in your soul. You are in a position to recognize what is going on in your soul and we can ride out the storm. That it makes your suffering more exquisite is unavoidable, but it also makes you stronger to bear it. You realize that the time of testing has been decreed in the Courts of Heaven and it is your duty to bear it. It also puts you in the position of recognizing that your solution is to call on God and wait for His answer.

Again, nobody can explain it. We can only affirm that these things are so because we pass through them ourselves. Yep, me too. Unlike Job’s friends, I’m conscious of the dynamics and won’t add to your sorrow when you tell me you hurt. I feel your pain because my heart reads the vast ocean of communion we can all share in the moral sphere.

That channel is real.