god's shadow notwithstanding, job still had a 1-1 with god

Dawkins does raise the important matter of the ‘God’s faithlessness’ and the ‘random indifference’ of nature, as Job found to his dismay. But he never considers whether God’s behaviour towards Adam and Eve, or the many times ‘and God smote’ is used in the bible, might be compatible with a more sophisticated relationship with God. Psalm 22, which Jesus calls out at the moment of his abandonment by God, was written by King David a thousand years earlier. ‘God, my God, I cry by day, you answer not, by night, and have no respite (ps22:3) shows that the debate about God having His own agenda and not being answerable to man, has been around for a long time and is compatible with a faith in, and experience of, God.

King David is not simply ‘crying out’. He is crying out to God. That makes all the difference.

See also: Understanding Good and Evil: Two Types of Good.