The fact that some form of loving must precede true knowing helps us appreciate why the prophets used the intimate word for carnal knowledge or sexual intimacy when they spoke of “knowing” God (see, for example, Hosea 2:21, 6:6, and John 10:14 – 15, 14:20, 17:3). This is a tremendous insight, but one that comes only from inner realization and not from books. So many of the mystics and the Song of Songs had to make use of sexual images to describe the relationship of the soul with God. From inside experience, you know God’s love is a tender dance of give-and-take, rescue and holding.
Richard Rohr
From The Naked Now; Learning to See as the Mystics Chapter: But We Have to Make Judgements, Don’t We?