The gaze of God is both what we fear and what we can't do without. Scripture makes it clear that apart from God's coming to us and opening our eyes, we cannot know him truly. Talk about epistemic difficulties! For us to know him, he must know us first. Our knowing is warped, especially when it comes to knowing God, because of human rebellion against God. There is something inside us that doesn't want to know him, even as another part of us does. Our blindness thus requires the terror of his meeting us. - Esther Meek, Longing to Know