The Judgment of Withdrawal

Matthew 15:14 "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. Ad if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."
The above quote was spoken by Jesus. It is the culmination of a discourse between Himself and the unbelieving Jewish leaders of His day while his disciples were witnesses. It started out with a question that implied that Jesus and His disciples were ungodly. "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." 
He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?"
As Jesus continues His comments, He says, "These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Farther on in the discourse, the disciples said to Jesus, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"
That's when Jesus spoke our text, "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind."
If you were to read this quickly, you might miss the phrase, "Let them alone."  But when you realize that this is a very serious statement of God's judgment, it causes one to slow down and contemplate this for a moment.
"Let them alone."
We have often heard someone jokingly refer to the "lightning bolt" judgment of God. Someone may tell an off-colored joke and the person next to them will say, "Step back!" inferring that they may get hit with lightning. Although nothing is impossible with God, few really understand the severity of how He really does judge people. God's judgement is much more subtle than a lightning bolt.
Throughout His Word, you will see that when God wants to judge a people, He will often do it by withdrawing His Hand from them. When Jesus says, "Let them alone," He is pronouncing the judgement of withdrawal. In other words, God is going to allow them to continue in their folly and let them reap the full consequences of that folly.
Hosea 4:17 "Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone." When God's judgment is ready to fall upon a people the last thing that happens is God, in essence, removes His Hand from them. This happens in Romans 1 with those who become futile in their thoughts and dark in their hearts. "Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness... (Romans 1:24) And we see it happen throughout the chapter,  "God gave them up... (vs 26) and again, "God gave them over... (vs 28).
The one thing you do not want God to do is leave you alone!
If things are going difficult for you, you don't want God to leave you alone! If you're not doing right before Him, you don't want God to leave you alone! If God has taken you to the woodshed to teach you a thing or two, rejoice and be exceedingly glad for it only proves your sonship!
You may wonder why there seem to be some people who are so "anti-God" and it seems as if they just continue without any repercussion. God seems to just let them do what they are doing. That is exactly what is happening. If they are under judgment, God has removed His hand from them. They are under His severe judgement. It is the judgement of withdrawal.
Our prayer today is, "Lord, whatever You are doing in me and through me, as uncomfortable as it may be, I thank You for not leaving me alone!"