A person standing face to face with deep suffering and his Creator often feels the extreme fragility of human existence. In such moments, there is a profound sense that just one divine glance could seal a person's fate and erase him from the world entirely.
Reflecting on the absolute finality of life, Job recognizes that the eyes of those who look upon him now, or those who might seek him out in the future, will never see him again once he is buried and hidden from the sight of all living beings [מצודת ציון]. The primary approach among commentators is that this describes the inescapable reality of death, where a person simply vanishes from everyone's view [מנחת שי, מלבי״ם].
Turning his attention directly to God, Job speaks of a deep, piercing, and overwhelming divine gaze [מלבי״ם]. This intense scrutiny brings forward several different perspectives on his relationship with God during his suffering. One perspective highlights the sheer nothingness of man compared to the infinite power of God. Job questions why God feels the need to crush him with prolonged, agonizing pain, when a single, fleeting glance from the Creator would be more than enough to make him cease to exist [רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Another view frames this interaction as a tragic missed opportunity. Job laments that by the time God finally turns His gaze toward him with the intention of bringing healing and goodness, it will be too late, as Job will have already passed from this world [מצודת דוד].
A different understanding views the suffering itself as a form of living death. Even though Job is still breathing and remains under God's watchful care, the crushing weight of his pain renders him essentially dead. Existing in a state where he appears alive but is fundamentally destroyed from within is a fate even worse than a natural death where a person simply fades from view [מלבי״ם].
Finally, there is a deep moral anxiety embedded in Job's words. While human eyes merely process light, God's vision is absolute, seeing the very essence of a person. Job is terrified that his overwhelming despair will drag him into sin and moral collapse. He fears reaching a point where God will completely withdraw His care, refusing to look upon him with even a single eye of mercy. Because of this, Job feels that while God is currently looking at him with both eyes representing strict justice, it would be better for him to depart from the world now, before he sins and loses everything [אלשיך].