Job 27:7-11. Job says let his enemies be as the wicked and those who rise up against him as the unrighteous, because the godless have no hope when God cuts them off and takes away their lives. God will not hear their cry when trouble comes upon them. They do not even call on God, nor take delight in Him. Job himself can teach them about the hand of God and how things are with the Almighty.

Job is suffering a lot and also having to defend himself against his friends and others who are trying to find a reason for his suffering - they are quite sure that Job must have done something to have brought all of this on himself. But Job knows himself and the state of his soul. He knows that he has not done anything to deserve this. The fact that he knows himself so well brings him more in tune with God and God's ways, so that he can talk about the hand of God. Job of course does not know about Jesus, but we will see in Jesus that the innocent who take delight in God often suffer the most. Here Job asks that those rising up against him be treated as unrighteous. He knows that he is righteous, so anyone persecuting him is acting unrighteously, at least in their behavior towards him.

I wish I could be as sure of myself as Job! When people I love treat me badly, often I blame myself, I think I must have done something to deserve this. But the closer I get to God, the more He hears me when I cry out to Him and He comforts me and enlightens me. If there is something that I have done to bring the suffering on myself and others, He shows me and asks me to repent. If not, He invites me to pray for those who are hurting me, because they are far from Him and He will not hear their cry when trouble comes upon them. Not because He doesn't want to, but because they have turned so far from Him that their cry is not usually to God, it is to something else that has taken God's place in their lives.