Orthodox prayers after losing a job

Pray these in the first days after you lose a job, while the shock and the fear are still fresh.

Picture: Jean-François Millet, The Gleaners, 1857

3 prayers

When your livelihood is gone

Prayer of Habakkuk

Though the fig tree does not blossomand there is no fruit on the vines,though the olive crop failsand the fields give no food,though the flock is cut off from the foldand there are no cattle in the stalls,yet I will rejoice in the LORD;I will be glad in the God Who saves me.

The LORD God is my strength.He makes my feet like the feet of a deerand makes me walk on the heights.

Traditional wording, 1611

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.

The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet,and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.

Habakkuk was afraid of what was coming. He names everything his people lived on. Even if all of it fails, he will rejoice in God, his strength.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Hebrew (chapter 3, verses 17 to 19), with the King James Version beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

In the King James Version “meat” means food, and a hind is a female deer.

Where it comes from, and the original

When it is taken from you

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,and naked I will return there.The LORD gave,and the LORD has taken away.Blessed be the name of the LORD.

Traditional wording, 1611

Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither:the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away;blessed be the name of the LORD.

These are Job’s words on the day he lost his livelihood and his children. He tore his robe in grief first, and then he blessed God.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Hebrew, with the King James Version beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: The King James translators, The King James Version, 1611.

Where it comes from, and the original

When it feels like failure

Prayer of St John of Kronstadt in failure

Glory to You, O Lord our Father,all-wise Tester of my lovefor You and for my neighbour.

Do not leave me without trialsfor a single day of my life,if Your wisdom and justicesee them as good and needful,

so that my love for You and for my neighbourmay be planted and made firm,made pure and lifted up,and so that I may not come before Your faceempty-handed at Your judgment.

Traditional wording, 1897

Glory to Thee, Lord, our Father, most wise Prover of my love for Thee and my neighbour!

Do not leave me without the temptations which are necessary and beneficial in accordance with Thy wisdom and truth, not for a single day of my life.

May they confirm, strengthen, and increase my love for Thee and my neighbour, and may I not appear poor and empty before Thy face at the day of Thy judgment!

A Russian prayer book gives this prayer for life’s failures. It praises God even in a setback and asks that trials make your love for God and for others grow.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Russian of his diary, with Goulaeff’s English of 1897 beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: E. E. Goulaeff, My Life in Christ, 1897.

Goulaeff translated freely. His “temptations” stands for a Russian word that also means trials, which is how the plain wording takes it.

Where it comes from, and the Russian

Scripture for this

He does not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

Psalm 112:7 A heart that trusts in the LORD need not fear the day the bad news comes.

“The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD goes ahead of you and will never leave you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

²⁰So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

Genesis 39:20-21 Joseph lost his place in his master’s house and was thrown into prison, yet the LORD was with him there.

³When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. ⁴So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep. ⁵David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken captive. ⁶And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

1 Samuel 30:3-6 When raiders burned David’s town and carried off its families, his own men spoke of stoning him. David found strength in the LORD his God.

See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

James 5:11 James praises Job’s endurance through all he lost and the Lord’s great compassion and mercy toward him.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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