Another quick thought just occurred to me after I logged out...
Know when Moses was up on the mountain in his history-making moment with God receiving the ten commandments?
What were his people doing? Making a golden calf idol or something like that wasnt it?
Does this not suggest that a feeling of distance from God is a long-standing tendancy? Here they were being led by a pillar of fire and receiving manna from heaven for their very survival, and their leader is having a one-to-one interaction with God... and they feel so little presence that they make a gold cow and worship it.
