Divine Withdrawal
Divine withdrawal is likely responsible for all of the judgments that came upon men in the Old Testament. God simply allowed them to suffer the consequences of their own choices.
We are so immersed in the arbitrary judgment of a legal framework that we have overlaid our system onto God, not realizing that sin—not God—is the punisher. The Psalmist underscores the intrinsic effects of sin.
“Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads.” Psalm 7:14-16
Divine Aikido
God uses the inherent consequences of breaking His universal design laws as a sort of divine Aikido where, though He uses no violence, the nature of reality turns our own violence back on ourselves. God, like those who practice the martial art of Aikido, always acts with a loving motive to try to teach the aggressor the truth about violence.
God Gave Them Up
So divine withdrawal is a biblical reality. God’s ultimate judgment—not only in the Old Testament, but also throughout history—is to withdraw, to turn men over, or to hide Himself. He does this countless times in the Old Testament, and Paul echoes His modus operandi in Romans 1:24, 26, 28. Though it grieves Him, when men make irrevocably rebellious decisions, He leaves them to the consequences of their choices.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!” Luke 13:34 NASB
