Why do some people understand Abrahamic God literally as a "human-like being" or 'old man in the clouds" but not as ultimate reality, spirit, etc.?

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A non-personal God just isn’t as interesting or useful to people.

Getting to feel like you understand ultimate reality is fun, but if you keep progressing in your journey, and don’t stagnate forever, then what you find is that you oscillate between personal and impersonal conceptions of the deity.

And a personal deity is just plain more fun, and that’s ultimately what matters. Otherwise you’re in for the forever-stagnation. Because spirituality progresses at the pace of what we find interesting, fun, beautiful. And nothing that’s not another intelligent, creative individual stays interesting or fun forever.

Keeping your ultimate God around as an impersonal “ultimate force” ultimately de-fangs Him. What it ‘secretly’ is is a ploy to imagine yourself as the ultimate personhood and the deity as your mere servant. Which is fine from the divine perspective, God’s here to serve us after all, it’s just that we are better off ultimately when we submit to divine will.

As is usual with the divine, God is “all things to all people.” If you need a robot servant to fulfill your every whim, God will work as best He can within those constraints. If you want a friend and teacher, who will show you not just how to get what you want, but also to help you understand what you should be wanting, so you don’t get caught up in a hell of your own creation, don’t be afraid to personalize God. Your prayers will be much better for it.