I once received an email with the following question:
"Dear G‑d, why did you create me, as a material being? Was it so I would live my life and then return to the same heaven I came from? What was the point? You could have left me as I originally was, and I would have been today as I will soon be. You made me travel all my life only to return to where I was before I left?
"Why, dear G‑d, did you waste my time?"
The Journey Itself
The best analogy I could think of is that of a scientist who embarks on a journey of exploration in the African jungles. After a long and dangerous ordeal, the scientist will ultimately return home. Why did he go? Was his journey a waste of time if indeed he returns to the place he embarked from? Of course not!
He has returned an enriched man: stronger for his travels, wiser for his discoveries, and more capable of appreciating life, the universe and our role in it.
By leading a life that justifies its own existence, we ensure that this question is never asked of you and me.
The book of Job is a powerful text in that it sums up our inability to understand, but our ability to accept that we cannot understand. G-d never explains why Job suffered. G-d merely told him that such understanding is beyond him.
I think this reflects several of the comments posted to this essay. It is not that people expect to understand G-d, but many have yet to make peace with the fact that they do not understand.
Once we accept what Job did we stop questioning. Not because we know the answers, but because the questions no longer bother us. We trust G-d to know better and accept that his wisdom is beyond us.
Thank you for bringing the book of Job into the discussion.