Dark Night of Desertion

Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.[Jonah 2:4]

God being the Father, if He hides His face from His child, it is in love. Desertion is sad in itself, a short hell (Job 6:9). Yet when the light is withdrawn, dew falls. We may see a rainbow in the cloud, the love of a Father in all this.
Firstly, God hereby quickens grace. Perhaps grace lay dormant (Canticles 5:2). It was as fire in the members; and God withdraws comfort, to invigorate and exercise grace. Faith is a grace that sometimes shines brightest in the dark night of desertion. (Jonah 2:4).
Secondly, when God hides His face from His child, He is still a Father, and His heart is towards His child. Joseph spoke roughly to his brethren, and made them believe that he would take them for spies; still his heart was full of love, and he was fain to go aside and weep. So God's heart yearns for His children, even when He seems to look strange. "In a little wrath I hid my face from thee…but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee." Though God may have the look of an enemy, He still has the heart of a Father.
—Thomas Watson, A Homiletic Encyclopedia pp. 1656