Hashem tells Moshe (Parshat Vayeilech 31:16) that after he dies, "This people will thereupon go astray after the alien gods in their midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them.” The result of that will be (verse 17), ”Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will leave them and hide My face from them. They shall be ready prey; and many evils and troubles shall befall them.”
The verse continues and relates the reaction of the Jewish people to that will be, "And they shall say on that day, ‘Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us’.” The Jewish people are not attributing what has transpired to coincidence but acknowledging that this is from Hashem. That’s good!
But the next verse doesn’t seem to coincide with that. Verse 18 reads:
וְאָנֹכִי הַסְתֵּר אַסְתִּיר פָּנַי בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא עַל כׇּל־הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כִּי פָנָה אֶל־אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים׃
I will surely hide My face on that day, because of all the evil they have done in turning to other gods.
Why such a negative reaction to the acknowledgement of the Hand of Hashem and seeming realization that they have brought these calamities upon themselves? The commentary of Seforno explains that the acknowledgement of, ”our God is not in our midst”, actually portrays a belief that although understandable for the situation, is very misguided. He writes that the result of saying that it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us (verse 17) is that they will not turn to Hashem in prayer and Teshuva (repentance) because in their eyes Hashem has abandoned them. So there’s no point in turning to Him.
To that Hashem replies (verse 18) that for “turning to other gods,” – that instead of turning to Me with prayer and Teshuva they turn for help from those who worship other gods because they think I have abandoned them, I will continue to hide my face from them. The choice of these words is to say that it’s not as they think that I have abandoned them. I am always there but I have hidden my face . The punishment comes in a way that it’s difficult to see Hashem’s guiding hand in our lives. But the truth is as our sages have said (Megillah 29), "Wherever the Jewish people have been exiled G-d's presence accompanies them."
The story is told of a Chassidic Rebbe known as the Rebbe Reb Ber who once found a little girl hiding behind a wall and crying.”What’s the matter, my child?”asked the Rebbe. She tearfully said, "I’m playing hide and seek with my friends. But no one has come to look for me!” When the Rebbe heard this he sighed and said,” I hear in this little girl's tearful response the longing of Hashem who has said,’I will hide my face,’- I have hidden myself, but no one comes to seek me.’"
King David put it this way (Psalm 23:4):
גַּם כִּי־אֵלֵךְ בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת לֹא־אִירָא רָע כִּי־אַתָּה עִמָּדִי
Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak