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2: When You Lose Your Job · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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  isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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  course.
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  Check it out at FindingGodAtWork.org.
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  Our current series is divine disappointments facing pain
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  and sorrow at work.
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  And today, we're going to talk about the
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  disappointment of getting laid off or fired from
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  your job.
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  And if that's happened to you recently, I'm
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  really sorry, it just sucks.
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  It sucks to lose your job, whether it
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  was because your position was eliminated, or maybe
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  even related to your job performance in some
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  way, it's still just really hard to suddenly
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  be in that position where instead of having
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  a job, you're unemployed or underemployed, and having
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  to figure out what's next.
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  And just a word to the wise here,
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  if you have a friend who has lost
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  their job, before trying to reassure them of
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  any great spiritual idea, right, just remember Romans
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  12, 12, rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn
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  with those who mourn, right, just mourn with
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  them, just be empathetically present to their disappointment
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  in that moment.
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  Most people, they don't need a theological lecture
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  or even direct spiritual encouragement in terms of
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  advice about how this is going to work
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  out on the day or the week or
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  the month that they've lost their job.
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  They just need people to be with them,
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  empathize with them, mourn with those who mourn.
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  Okay, but in this episode, we are going
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  to talk about the spiritual dynamics, because that's
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  what the episode is for.
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  And hopefully, consuming it on a podcast is
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  more helpful than hearing it from a friend
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  when you're in that place of just needing
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  empathy.
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  But I am sorry, if that's your experience
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  any time recently, that's really hard.
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  And as it happens, I wasn't planning this
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  at all.
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  But actually, just today, before recording this episode,
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  I got texted by a friend who had
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  just lost his job.
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  And so thinking about you specifically, friend, and
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  for all of us, and I've been there,
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  too, I've been in a place where I've
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  unexpectedly lost my job and had to deal
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  with the fallout and the consequences.
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  So in order to kind of situate our
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  contemporary experience of losing a job in the
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  scriptural witness, I want to look at a
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  couple Old Testament passages from the wisdom literature
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  to kind of help us think about how
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  do we make sense of having lost a
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  job in terms of whose fault it is
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  and what that means.
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  And I want to look at the New
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  Testament in terms of what are the spiritual
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  opportunities that are present even in the disappointment
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  of losing a job.
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  Okay, so first to the wisdom literature, Proverbs.
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  So, you know, when you lose a job,
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  especially if you got fired, rather than laid
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  off, it's easy to think it's my fault.
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  It's easy to think, wow, if I had
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  done better at my job, maybe I would
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  still have my job.
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  And that's not an entirely illogical thing to
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  think.
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  And it's also not an entirely unbiblical thing
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  to think.
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  So Proverbs 22 verse 29 says, do you
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  see someone skilled in their work?
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  They will serve before kings.
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  They will not serve before officials of low
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  rank.
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  In other words, being good at your job
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  is good for job security and good for
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  your job trajectory.
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  And so there is the possibility, right, to
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  be frank, we have to consider the possibility
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  that sometimes people lose their jobs because they're
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  bad at them.
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  Right.
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  And that's not always the case, right?
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  But sometimes it is the case.
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  And so we'll come back to that.
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  How do we think through that, if that's
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  the case?
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  But there's a flip side here also in
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  the wisdom literature, really important to contextualize our
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  experience in light of this reality as well.
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  So this is from Ecclesiastes.
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  Again, last episode, we looked at Ecclesiastes.
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  This is Ecclesiastes chapter nine, starting in verse
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  11.
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  I have seen something else under the sun.
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  The race is not to the swift or
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  the battle to the strong, nor does food
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  come to the wise or wealth to the
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  brilliant or favor to the learned, but time
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  and chance happened to them all.
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  Moreover, no one knows when their hour will
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  come as fish are caught in a cruel
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  net or birds are taken in a snare.
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  So people are trapped by evil times that
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  fall unexpectedly upon them.
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  Okay.
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  So this is the flip side.
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  If the Proverbs passage suggests that being good
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  at your job is generally helpful for your
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  job security and your career trajectory, then what
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  Ecclesiastes says is, but the universe is not
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  a simple meritocracy.
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  It's not like the people who are hardworking
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  or smart or strong always get ahead time
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  and chance happened to them all.
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  There are random events beyond our control that
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  can affect us very profoundly.
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  Uh, in that final phrase, people are trapped
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  by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.
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  There is chaos in the universe.
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  Sometimes you lose your job and it's not
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  your fault at all, even when you are
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  fired.
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  Okay.
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  So these are, these are the, the kind
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  of two points that are intentioned with each
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  other in the wisdom literature.
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  And I think that this is really helpful
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  for us thinking about whose fault it is
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  when you lose a job, right?
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  On the one hand, at the most extreme,
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  uh, side, you could say, well, if you
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  got fired, it's your fault.
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  Right.
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  And that, that could be true.
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  And, and let's be honest, we've probably had
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  friends and coworkers like that where, where that's
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  kind of the situation that happened.
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  And we know it's what happened.
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  Maybe even you you've experienced this yourself.
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  Uh, I have had the situation where I
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  got the news that a co-worker was
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  fired and I breathed a sigh of relief.
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  Right.
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  Not because I don't care about them as
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  a person, but because they were not a
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  good fit for their job.
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  And now we'll have the chance to get
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  someone who is a good fit for their
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  job.
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  And all the frustrations and problems that emanated
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  from them, not being a good fit at
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  their job will hopefully become a thing of
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  the past.
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  Right.
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  So that's one extreme is totally your fault.
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  The other extreme is it's totally not your
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  fault.
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  Your, your boss made an unjust call or
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  in the case of being laid off rather
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  than fired, right?
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  It was a, it was a market dynamic
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  totally beyond your control.
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  Right.
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  And there's no responsibility that you can have
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  for it at all.
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  Well, in the reality of the world, if
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  the wisdom literature is giving us these two
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  points of tension, isn't the truth probably somewhere
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  in between most of the time?
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  Like if you got fired, you probably bear
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  some responsibility for that yourself.
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  Even if your work situation and your boss
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  wasn't perfect, right?
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  Similarly, even if you got laid off, right?
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  And there are circumstances beyond your control, right?
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  None of us are perfect at our jobs.
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  And so there is a question there, even
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  if we were laid off rather than fired
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  of like, Oh, wow, did I do anything
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  to contribute to this circumstance?
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  So the truth is somewhere in the middle.
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  And, and that leads me to the first
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  of our kind of ways of thinking about
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  this from the new Testament.
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  So Romans chapter 12, same, uh, where we
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  got our verse, uh, on empathy, verse 12,
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  12.
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  Now I want to go to verse 12,
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  three, uh, which says this.
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  For by the grace given me, I say
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  to every one of you, do not think
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  of yourself more highly than you ought, but
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  rather think of yourself with sober judgment and
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  accordance with the faith God has distributed to
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  each of you.
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  Think of yourself with sober judgment.
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  So that's the, that's the first word from
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  the new Testament about the spiritual opportunity when
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  you've lost a job is there is an
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  opportunity for self-examination.
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  Self-examination is a classic Christian phrase.
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  It's really important.
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  Uh, it's a practice, uh, that can, can
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  be, uh, kind of habitualized through practices like
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  doing an examine, um, an examine of conscience,
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  which we've talked about in other episodes.
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  We kind of reflect on your day or
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  reflect on a period of time in your
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  life and see how God was working and
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  how you were responding to how God was
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  working.
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  Self-examination is utterly critical for the Christian
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  life.
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  We can't do without it.
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  And Paul here commends it in terms of,
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  you know, as God gives you faith, so
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  do it.
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  We need faith in order to do self
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  -examination.
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  We need to have a sense that God
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  is at work as we reflect on our
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  lives.
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  So that's the first opportunity, whether you were
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  fired or whether you were laid off, the
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  spiritual opportunity here is for self-examination to
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  reflect what, if anything, can I take responsibility
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  for about what happened.
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  So just personal testimony from me here.
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  Uh, I was laid off from my job
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  at the mortgage company a few years ago.
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  Um, and the mortgage industry is a very
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  rate sensitive market sensitive industry.
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  Right?
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  So the, the interest rates for mortgages are
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  determined by a variety of factors.
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  Some of what the federal reserve does, some
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  of what private investors do.
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  Uh, but it's not something that's like any,
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  under any one person's direct control.
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  And so when interest rates tend to fall,
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  mortgage companies do more business.
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  And when interest rates tend to rise, mortgage
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  companies do less business.
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  And so I was hired in a low
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  interest rate season, and then I was laid
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  off as interest rates were skyrocketing a couple
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  of years later.
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  And I was laid off and I think
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  like the third of five or six rounds
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  of layoffs that happened at the company, my
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  entire team was eliminated.
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  The whole department was eliminated the day that
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  I was laid off.
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  And so I felt pretty good about like,
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  okay, this seems to be like a time
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  and chance happens to them all, right?
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  This is a, um, uh, unexpected, uh, evil
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  falling upon me, uh, like the Ecclesiastes said,
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  this was not primarily about my work performance.
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  So that, that, that was tending to me
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  more how I framed it.
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  And, you know, my, my boss in the
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  layoff conversation even said that, like, this doesn't
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  have to do with your work performance.
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  So all the more reason for me to
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  think that, however, I noticed an emotional reaction
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  because I know, noticed that some of my
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  coworkers had not gotten laid off, right, that
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  not in my direct team, but people on
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  some other teams, but still kept their jobs.
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  And I thought, man, if I had been
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  a more valuable contributor, could I have somehow
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  kept my job where they have found a
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  different role for me rather than laying me
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  off when the, when the team was eliminated,
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  right?
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  And so, uh, that question kind of was
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  raised for me.
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  Now that could be a really unhealthy question.
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  A kind of, a kind of self accusation,
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  assuming something's your fault when it's not necessarily
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  so.
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  But I think in the spiritual opportunity that
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  Paul commenced us here of self-examination, it
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  did give me a chance to reflect like,
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  what do I want to do differently at
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  my next job?
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  What do I want to give at my
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  next job that maybe I wasn't giving at
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  this job?
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  Or conversely, maybe what boundaries do I want
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  to set at my next job that I
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  wasn't setting at this job?
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  So, so again, if the truth is we
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  probably bear some responsibility, even in those situations
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  that are often beyond our control, there's an
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  opportunity for self-examination.
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  Okay.
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  That's a, that's our first thing.
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  The second thing, uh, so Paul mentioned, you
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  know, it takes faith to, to do self
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  -examination, it also takes faith to just ride
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  out the uncertainty of unemployment, right?
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  So here I want to go to Matthew
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  chapter five, where Jesus speaks about anxiety and
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  worry.
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  So this is starting in verse 25.
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  Therefore I tell you, do not worry about
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  your life, what you will eat or drink,
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  or about your body, what you will wear.
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  Is not life more than food and the
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  body more than clothes?
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  Look at the birds of the air.
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  They do not sow or reap or store
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  away in barns, and yet your heavenly father
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  feeds them.
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  Are you not much more valuable than they?
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  Can any of you by worrying at a
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  single hour to your life?
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  Now, Jesus is talking about the birds of
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  the air who do not sow or reap
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  or store away in barns.
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  In other words, who do not work because
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  he knows that there's a relationship between our
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  worry and our work, right?
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  He's saying when, when you're worried about financial
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  circumstances, when you're worried about having enough food
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  to eat or enough clothes to wear, you're
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  thinking about all the work you have to
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  do to be okay.
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  But he's like, look at the birds.
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  They don't work.
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  They don't sow.
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  They don't reap.
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  They don't store away in barns.
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  And God still feeds them.
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  And God cares way more about you than
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  he cares about the birds.
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  So as you enter into a season of
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  unemployment or underemployment after losing a job, there's
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  a word there that God cares about you,
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  even when you can't work, even when you
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  can't contribute to your own financial wellbeing the
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  same way that you do when you're getting
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  a regular paycheck day in, day out.
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  God cares for you.
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  You don't need to worry.
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  That takes faith to receive that word from
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  the Lord.
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  It is hard and the physiological response of
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  having a measure of stress, having measure anxiety
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  is unavoidable.
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  That's, that's something that will happen.
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  But as we bring that experience to God,
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  we ask him to strengthen our faith.
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  We can experience the freedom of knowing ultimately
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  God provides for me.
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  I, I get to participate in that by,
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  by doing my work when I have a
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  job.
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  But just because I don't have a job
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  right now, that hasn't changed God's attitude about
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  me at all.
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  He will still provide for me.
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  He will still provide for my loved ones.
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  And I've seen that come true in my
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  life and the lives of many other people,
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  uh, despite many unpredictable circumstances, um, following losses
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  of jobs.
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  And that brings me to our third thing,
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  as we think about God's attitude towards us
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  as it relates to our work.
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  So I want to go to another passage
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  in the gospels.
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  This is the conclusion of what's often called
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  the parable of the prodigal son.
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  Right.
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  And you've got the two different brothers, one
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  of whom leaves, makes very poor life decisions,
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  parties, loses all his money, then comes back
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  home.
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  The other one who was working away the
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  whole time, working faithfully in the fields and
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  that, that older brother who was working the
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  whole time, he's not so pleased about how
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  things turn out.
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  So this is Luke chapter 15, starting in
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  verse 28.
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  The older brother became angry and refused to
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  go in.
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  So his father went out and pleaded with
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  him, but he answered his father, look, all
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  these years I've been slaving for you and
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  never disobeyed your orders.
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  Yet you never gave me even a young
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  goat.
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  So I could celebrate with my friends.
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  But when this son of yours has squandered
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  your property with prostitutes, comes home, you kill
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  the fattened calf for him.
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  My son, the father said, you are always
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  with me and everything I have is yours.
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  But we had to celebrate and be glad
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  because this brother of yours was dead and
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  is alive again, he was lost and is
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  found.
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  You see the attitude of the father towards
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  the two sons.
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  One son has been working hard.
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  The other son has not, but he loves
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  them both.
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  He says this brother of yours was lost
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  and is found, was dead and is alive
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  again.
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  He deeply loves the prodigal son just as
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  much as the son who was working hard.
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  Okay.
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  What does that mean for you when you've
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  lost a job?
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  God loves you deeply, just as much when
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  you can't work, when you've lost your job,
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  when you're unemployed, when you're underemployed, as when
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  you're being a highly productive working person, God's
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  attitude towards you has not changed at all.
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  God is still for you.
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  God still loves you.
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  And so this distressing time of losing a
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  job is ironically an opportunity to enter more
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  deeply into receiving God's love for you, right?
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  To know that God loves you just as
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  much right now as he did on your
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  most productive day ever.
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  That's one way that God can use a
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  season like this to deepen your faith, to
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  deepen your experience of his love, to help
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  you grow in self-examination, and then to
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  move on to whatever's next.
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  Lord Jesus, thank you that you were faithful
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  to us in the ups and downs.
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  We do pray for your mercy on anyone
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  who's lost a job recently.
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  You administer your compassion and your hope to
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  them.
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  We also pray that you give all of
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  us when we face these kind of circumstances,
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  the courage to exercise faith, to trust in
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  your providence, to appropriately examine ourselves, and also
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  to experience your love more deeply.
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  Jesus, do your work in us as we
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  do our work with you.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
• 15:43
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• 15:46
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• 15:48
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