If God doesn't go with us

Yesterday in church, my pastor showed us a quote that went something like:

"If the Holy Spirit somehow suddenly disappeared from the earth, most of the Church's work would continue unabated."

Wha? Heheh. Chew on THAT one for a few minutes and figure if that's correct in your church or, more importantly - your life. If the Holy Spirit somehow left, would you know for certain that something was wrong?

This morning I read about the Israelites after the golden calf and all these other things that showed their bull-headedness. God was angry, and said:

"Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."

"God will not go with us???" Everyone said. They started to mourn and cry. They did not want to go without God. Since God was still pleased with Moses, he changed his mind and went with them.

But that's not the point, it's just to give it a happy ending. The point is, what if God WEREN'T going with us in what we did? Would we notice? Do we take advantage of the fact that he is with us in all that we do?