Job 17: Job and God

Job 17:11 "My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart."

I get the feeling here that Job doesn't want to lose heart completely. He seems to be holding onto that last tiny wisp of hope.

Can you imagine the feeling Job must have, where you didn't do anything specifically to incur God's wrath, and tragedy befalls you? Then, because of the culture of the time, everyone around you wonders what horrible thing you must have done to incur this kind of wrath from God? This assumes God's retribution and discipline is measured out proportionally to the offense. And as we have seen, that's not necessarily the case. Probably never the case, in reality.

People strut by, judging him. Some pretend to care. Some offer advice without true empathy. Job realizes this, and I think people realize this more often than we think. 

These are the things that contribute to Job feeling like his life has come to an end. In a way, I wonder if this pain Job is suffering at the hands of those who mock him and reject him and ignore him is more intense and severe than the pain of the original loss of his family and possessions. Is that macabre? I'm just wondering...Job mourned in silence, and had the attitude of "the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away." Here, his life is over.