John Chrysostom

Just as when God defends us and stands by us, everything damaging is removed from us, so when he keeps his distance and forgets us, our soul is cut in two, our heart plunged in sorrow, those who do harm fall on us and life becomes craggy and precipitous. Now, this is allowed to happen for our advantage, so that through the whole of it those more indifferent people may be goaded into becoming more zealous and return to the condition from which they fell. "Your falling away will instruct you, after all," Scripture says, "and your wickedness censure you." And so even abandonment by God is a form of providence. You see, when the one who exercises providence and care is slighted, he ignores and abandons us to some extent so that at that point indifference may be expelled and the negligent may turn more zealous.