Feeling for God
"We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men." (Isaiah 59:10)
Where do you go after you feel the acute sting following the realization that you hurt someone? That thought, that action, that word. Whenever I stub my toe, I instantly react. It takes a second or two while the pain registers down there, though. And a quick "I'm sorry" does nothing to alleviate. If anything, it tends to exacerbate the injury. People are so sensitive.
And yet it should come as no surprise. God Himself, being our creator, is the most sensitive person. He sent His Son to feel all the pain that our sin had sprouted--which He did. As such, some people go their whole life not knowing when or how or even if they've offended Him (let alone Him). Yet God goes on loving them.
"All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
God feels deeply. If our senses and sensitivities are any indication, it would seem that God feels everything. I don't know if He'd have it any other way. This is how Jesus can say "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40) The least of these. As an aside, how do I know who has what standing in the Kingdom of God? Paul says to "let each esteem other better than themselves." (Philippians 2:3) That's a great maxim of interaction. Try it sometime if you haven't already. It feels great.
Feeling after God
Feeling after God? Silly, there is no feeling after God. As He is the one who feels and also the one who made feeling, we'd do well to orient our feelings after Him. Some would say that you can't trust your feelings but if your feelings are "rooted and grounded in love" (God's love; Ephesians 3:17), what's the problem? Here's one: "Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness (essentially a lust-tinged hedonism), to work all uncleanness with greediness." (Ephesians 4:18) Our feelings are powerful. It would seem that we can't help them. What's merely biology and what's beyond that? I know I have to eat to survive, but how much eating and drinking does it take to "be merry" (Ecclesiastes 8:15)? I suppose it's different for everyone. So, too, with any other impulse that's grounded in reality. Orienting our feelings, for good or ill, around the tenets of Jesus is the order of the day. It takes time but it's so worth it. What other endeavor is more important?
"That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us:" (Acts 17:27)