They have a sense of permanence because they know God has set up their environment. This gives a reason why some nations can survive two thousand years of being defeated and overrun by enemies. America became one nation under God only recently, but it began with a clear sense of God's Fatherhood. Paul also reminds the Athenians that idolatry is disastrous for a nation. Idolatry was the first step down in Paul's explanation of the decline of Greek civilization.
Idolatry disintegrates a civilization.
The opposite occurred six hundred years after Paul when Muhammad managed to rid the Arabs of their tribal idolatries, and they were forged into a powerful nation. The corroding result of idolatry was noted over three thousand years ago in the law of Moses. Human parents would be jealous if their children made little idols, put them up in a corner, and talked to them instead of running to their father or mother and cuddling in their laps. It is not surprising that God is angry and jealous, and assigns severe consequences, when a tribe or nation turns to idolatry instead of trusting in his Fatherhood. In human families loving parents give us the sense that food will be on the table.