There probably isn’t a church in North America right now that doesn’t have people facing unemployment. Do you know someone you can direct to these excellent thoughts from an elder at Capitol Baptist who is facing unemployment?
Like many congregations around the country, we have had many of our people this year struggling through unemployment. Included among those is one of our elders, who has been unemployed for nearly a year now. Over the past twelve months, I’ve seen this brother hurt, I’ve seen him get excited about potential jobs and then have his hopes dashed when the job didn’t come through. I’ve seen him cry when the struggle got simply exhausting. But I have also watched this brother continue to trust in God, and through it all walk alongside others who are navigating that same hard road. Even as he is shouldering his own load, he is helping others to shoulder theirs, too. That has been and continues to be a deep and beneficial ministry.
A few weeks ago, this dear friend and brother shared with the congregation ten things he had learned from his unemployment. Here’s what he said:
#1: Own your unemployment
This struggle has revealed how much I wrongly value work and wrongly value being seen as important. As a reaction to this new reality, my flesh wants to pass through this trial quickly. My flesh doesn’t want to slow down and absorb the lessons that God has for me in this season.
So there is a constant struggle to avoid admitting that I am unemployed or that my unemployment has extended so long because it tells my flesh that the world doesn’t think much of me. So I am tempted to tell people that I took a few months off before I really started looking; anything to minimize the embarrassment.
Embracing the trial, to me, means being honest with myself and forcing myself to run to God and to depend on him. I need to work at not putting up defenses. I need to regularly admit to people that I am unemployed…
This honest assessment drives me to the scriptures to find rest and solace in God and His word and NOT in anything else.
#2: Preach to yourself
In times like this, it is too easy to speak to yourself and become discouraged, to doubt and even to accuse God. We need to arm ourselves with His word and battle those thoughts. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
