The Futility in Life for the Unbeliever

"Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
     and fill his belly with the east wind?
Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
     or in words with which he can do no good?
The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
     through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
     in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
     and he is marked for the sword.
He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
     He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
distress and anguish terrify him;
     they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
Because he has stretched out his hand against God
     and defies the Almighty...
Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, 
     for emptiness will be his payment."
- Job 15:2-3, 20-25, 31

After the fall of Adam, God announced a curse against him: "Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread..." (Genesis 3:17-19). Here the curse is pronounced in a life of toil made difficult and unproductive. The passage above fleshes out that curse. In both, Adam, both for himself and for his posterity, is given a life of futility in place of the blessedness that he knew, and would have continued to know, in the Garden of Eden. 


However, Job adds as element to the curse. 

We know from elsewhere that the regenerate will experience life in a world in which that curse is gradually rolled back. We see this in both agricultural and lifestyle blessings described in various portions of the prophecies of Isaiah. For example, see Isaiah 35:1-2: "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing."

That isn't what the passage in job describes. Rather,  it is about the continuous, lifelong futility experienced by the unbeliever. Pursuing a life in rebellion against God brings against the unbeliever the opposition of the world created by that God. Even the dirt beneath his feet conspires against him. 

Does this mean that every unbeliever suffers through life or that every believer prospers? No, it doesn't. It's a generalization. But not by much.