The Book of Job

How does the book of Job affect your view of God? Sometimes I read about Job, and feel like God is kind of mean. Was it not God that mentioned Job to Satan? "Have you considered my servant Job?" ... Kind of makes you want to sit in the back of the class, as it were.

I am partly playing the Devils advocate here, but have you ever thought along these lines?

To the shrewd, God seems shrewd. I am not entirely certain of the meaning of this statement.
Does the lens through which we look at God determine our outlook on these faith issues? How do we see God? Do we make God in our image? To the drug abuser, is everyone trying to "work an angle?" To the prostitute, is every man a filthy pig? To the discontent, is God never "coming through for them"? To a physically abused child, is authority always corrupted?
God is knowable. His representation is manifested through the life of Jesus Christ and carried on through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

To what degree is our image of God formed through our own experiences? (for good or bad)

I guess the Bible is somewhat like a prism reflecting all of the qualities of our God. Some colors we love and some we don't like so well... God may seem "mean" to me at times because of the light that is shining through a particular story. When a married woman cheats on her husband, he may seem "mean" because of his jealousy. Is he really mean?

Could there be more to it than all of that? Job says, "The thing I feared is upon me." This says to me I need to keep my trust always alive. There should be no room for fear. Did Job bring it upon himself? Was the test given to clarify to Job, just where his trust was?