The Drawbacks of a Conversational Relationship with God

So I started reading chapter 2 and forgot to blog the final question for chapter 1 after getting over bronchitis, so here it is:

"What might be the drawbacks of having a conversational relationship with God?"

So be honest, there are a ton. Mainly though dealing with our access to God himself. In the Old Testament, from a glance it looks like God had a formulaic relationship with his people. It's not true, but it can be easy to deduce that if just looking at the actions of the people. Do something wrong, kill an animal, and then you're all right with God. Sin, sacrifice, forgiveness, good relationship with God. It seems so simple. And so easy to maintain a good relationship with God. If I follow the easy, laid out, time-tested formula, I'll always have access to the Creator and he will always guide me. In so many ways we latch onto the same view now. Do something wrong, ask for forgiveness from Jesus, and then you're all right with God. True grace has taken a back seat to a parlor trick, a small illusion that wipes away our sins and keeps the status quo. This simple formula keeps our faith lives in a perpetual state of staleness.
And even worse than this is the formula we've made for coming to "know" Christ. All men have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus was God and was perfect and died for your sins so you could get to Heaven. All you have to do is confess you're a sinner, receive forgiveness....and you make into Heaven! We preach it to others in hope that they'll start living in the "joy" we have too. Yet it's a bunch of crap. While we've gotten so many things right with theology, we've missed the point. Our goal, Christ's goal, was not to "get us into Heaven"; rather it was help us into a right relationship with God. We've made a formula to get into Heaven and we follow it so closely. And it makes a relationship worthless because relationships are hard. Formulas are easy.
We've gotten it wrong; I've gotten it wrong. And I know it. I've known it for a long time. Formulas are easy, relationships are hard. And in so many ways I still live out a formula faith daily. If I do enough or if I lead enough, God will speak to me. If I know enough of the Scriptures or if I have the right thinking about God then he will speak to me. Or if I spend at least three days of the week in "quiet times" God will speak to me. I've lived this way for years, approaching God with formulas. Again, it's not to say any of these things are wrong (God knows I need quiet times to silence my own voice), but with everything in our lives the motives behind our movements are what matter. Do I go through these motions to dive deeper into a relationship with Christ because they are actions that flow freely from a heart that desires intimacy; or am I yet again attempting to earn my way into his grace, hoping to hear a word from the almighty that confirms I am righteously living inside his will? I don't know. But I know two things: a true conversational relationship with God is always harder than a formulaic approach to God, but it is always better.