When the Work or the Home Is Gone

The Son of God was rich, and for his people’s sake he became poor (2 Corinthians 8:9). He had nowhere to lay his head (Matthew 8:20). He is not ashamed of your need, and you may grieve what is gone. He said this to his disciples.

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6:31-33 (KJV)

Take no thought means do not be anxious. This is a Father’s promise to his children, and he keeps it his own way. The Larger Catechism teaches us to ask for a competent portion, as to his fatherly wisdom shall seem best (Q&A 193). A competent portion means enough. He promises what you truly need. He does not promise that the old life comes back.

Habakkuk wrote this knowing an army was coming to strip the fields and the flocks his people lived on.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 (KJV)

Habakkuk’s joy was not in the loss but in the God who was not lost. He trembled first (3:16), and you may too. If a fire or a flood took your home, God is still his people’s refuge, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). If it took someone you love, that grief has its own place here.

If anyone told you that God wants you rich, or that you lost it for lack of faith, Scripture says otherwise. Paul went hungry too, and learned to be content in hunger and in plenty through Christ (Philippians 4:11-13). Losing work is not a sin. If your own sin had a part in it, confess it to God, who is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9).

Christ died on the cross in the place of sinners and rose on the third day. By his resurrection God gives his people new birth into a living hope, and an inheritance that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them (1 Peter 1:3-4). If you are his, no fire, flood, or lost job can reach it.

God’s adopted children are pitied, protected, and provided for by their Father (Westminster Confession 12.1), often through his church.

Saints, by profession, are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities.

Westminster Confession of Faith 26.2

Christians are bound to help one another with food, money, and a roof, and the deacons lead that work. Asking for help is not a failure of faith. It is how the church does what Christ gave it to do.

Before you sleep, do these three things.

1. Ask for today’s bread. Pray as Jesus taught, Give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11). Tell the Lord the fear, and any shame too.
2. Tell the people who can help. If you are married and it is safe to, tell your husband or wife all of it. Tell your deacons what you need, whether rent, food, or a bed tonight. If you have no church, call a Christian friend, and read Do Not Carry It Alone below.
3. Eat something, and lie down. Tomorrow’s bread is tomorrow’s prayer. Your life is worth more than any job, savings, or house. If you think others would be better off without you, that thought is a lie. If you have thoughts of ending your life, call 988 or text 988 tonight, and tell someone near you.

When you are ready to search your heart

This is not a hunt for the cause of your loss. It is a look at how you are bearing it, for want has temptations of its own.

Fear can harden into distrust of God. You may envy those who kept what you lost. Asaph confessed, I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked (Psalm 73:3). Want can tempt you to cut a corner, or to chase quick money. Agur asked God for neither poverty nor riches, because he knew want could tempt him to steal (Proverbs 30:8-9). If an employer wronged you, seeking what you are owed is right, but do not let a grudge take root. Pride can refuse help, or refuse humbler work. Humble work is no fall. The Son of God worked with his hands as a carpenter (Mark 6:3). And the job may have been where you kept your worth. If you are his, your worth is kept in Christ, and no lost job can touch it.

If you find any of this in you, bring it to Christ, who became poor for his people, died, and rose again. He turns away no one who comes, and he is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9). Then ask for this day’s bread, and do the next thing.

If you do not know Christ, or are not sure you do, his own question is below.

The church

Do Not Carry It Alone

This page can hand you Scripture. It cannot sit with you, pray over you, or bring you a meal. Christ gave those things to his church.

Call your pastor or an elder today. If one of them is the one hurting you, call another pastor you trust. You do not have to explain it well. Say that something has happened and ask him to pray with you. If the need is money or meals or rides, tell your deacons. That is what the office is for. Peter told the elders, Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof (1 Peter 5:2). Letting them do it is not a burden you lay on them. It is the work Christ gave them. When an elder comes, ask when he will come again.

Go to worship on the Lord’s Day, even if you only sit and weep. Sit under the Word, and pray with God’s people. If you are a communing member, come to the Lord’s Table. It was given for the relief of weak and doubting Christians too (Larger Catechism Q&A 172). The Word, the sacraments, and prayer are the means by which Christ gives his people the benefits of his redemption (Shorter Catechism Q&A 88), and by them weak faith is strengthened (Westminster Confession 14.1). Yours may be weak this week. Where you can, put off large decisions for a while, and do not make any of them alone. Getting safe is never a decision to put off.

If you have no church, find a faithful one near you and go this Sunday. Look for one where Christ is preached from the whole Bible, where baptism and the Lord’s Supper are given as he commanded, and where elders watch over the flock. Then ask how to join it. Christ never meant for one of his sheep to walk alone. If you do not know where to start, write to me. I keep this site. I am not a pastor, and I cannot always answer quickly. In an emergency, do not wait on me. Call 911, or call 988 or text 988. But I will pray for you, and I will help you look for a church.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (KJV)

One day you may sit with someone else in this same dark. The comfort God gives you now is meant to be passed on.

If you do not know him

Believest Thou This

Maybe you came here because of a death, a diagnosis, a broken home, or a lost job, and you are not a Christian. The promises here belong to those who belong to Christ. They can be yours.

Jesus spoke these words to a grieving woman on the road outside her village, four days after her brother was buried (John 11:17, 20). Then he asked her a question. He asks you the same one.

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

John 11:25-26 (KJV)

If you came here grieving someone, this is not a word about them. Leave them with God. It is a word about you. Death came into the world through sin, and one day you will stand before God yourself (Romans 5:12, Hebrews 9:27).

But Christ died in the place of sinners and bore the punishment their sins deserved, and on the third day he rose again. Everyone who turns from sin and trusts him alone is forgiven and counted righteous for his sake (Shorter Catechism Q&A 33, 87). He said that whoever comes to him he will in no wise cast out (John 6:37). Call on him tonight, in your own words. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13). Do not wait until the grief lifts. Come as you are, with the grief.

The gospel page sets it out in full. Read it slowly.