When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
 

When we do not see the active signs and wonders of God in our lives or in our hearts during prayer, the temptation arises to fashion idols for ourselves to worship.  Externally, through worldly pleasures, wealth, prestige, power and so on; internally, through false devotion, false piety, the search for consolation, lights and so forth.

We see Jesus was tempted this way to fully destroy the tempter of the Israelites: “The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’“ (Matthew 4.3-4) and again in verse 6 Jesus is tempted in a manner like to that of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah when they said “is the Lord with us or not?” (Numbers 20)  Jesus is tempted to prove by wonders the Father is indeed with  him, by casting himself down to force him to show his hand.  Thus again does the faith of Jesus undo the harm wrought by the unfaithfulness of the Israelites in the desert of Zin.