There are two reactions to this perceived abandonment. One is to continue to have faith, and the other is to give up. Satan tries to tell people who perceive that God has abandoned them that God must not care enough about them, so they might as well not care as much about Him. Through this and related lies, Satan helps lead people into more and more sin. Sinful living breeds further difficulties in life which are often again blamed on God's abandonment, even though many of these challenges are self-inflicted.
In the midst of this pattern of turmoil, sometimes a person decides to set aside their bitter feelings. They are in such dire need that they turn back to God because they see nowhere else to turn, and in spite of everything they finally acknowledge to themselves that He is the one source where there may be hope for some measure of happiness.
Those who either choose up front to remain faithful, or who later return to God as a prodigal son or daughter, eventually learn the same lesson. God's abandonment wasn't really abandonment at all. Like a perfect loving father who watches his little child learn to ride a bicycle, He held back from picking His child up each time they fell. Though His heart aches each time his child cries and calls out with pain, He knows that real knowledge comes through experience. Rather than solving His children's bicycling trials, He works to comfort and console, to encourage and guide. When a hill is too steep for weak legs to climb alone, He gives the support that is needed. Though the child is unaware, the Father is keeping the child in a path that provides only challenges that can be overcome. Though the roads are paved at first, mountain trails come once the child is able to bear the challenge.
If this is abandonment, we should seek more of it. A baby must eventually be weaned, and a child must eventually learn the strength to live on his or her own. All our most difficult challenges are for our experience, and will be for our good. We can overcome them to the extent that we are faithful to our Father's guidance.
We lived with God, our Father, as spirits before we were born. He knew we had to leave His presence to learn on our own if we were ever to become like Him. We knew there would be challenges and difficulties, and we knew they would be hard. But we were extremely grateful for the opportunity--so much so that we shouted for joy. We've forgotten that time of joy. We've forgotten the fact that we chose to come here and endure extreme hardship, where our Father would not solve our problems for us. But if we turn away His loving guidance completely, we'll never learn how to become like our Father.