Finding God at Work

Chris interviews Dr. Meryl Herr about her new book, When Work Hurts: Building Resilience When You're Beat Up or Burnt Out. Hear about how the biblical story of Nehemiah gives us a paradigm for faithfulness in a toxic work environment, how our sense of calling can be a double-edged sword, and how to discern when it’s time to leave. Meryl Herr (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) owns and runs The GoodWorks Group LLC, a consulting firm specializing in educational program planning and evaluation. She previously served as director of research and resources at Fuller Seminary's Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where she conducted research and created resources to help Christian marketplace leaders integrate their faith with their work. You can subscribe to Meryl’s Substack to get a free Work Hurt Assessment. Sources: 1 Corinthians 8:1 (ESV) Nehemiah 4 (NIV) Meryl Herr, When Work Hurts: Building Resilience When You're Beat Up or Burnt Out (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2025). Donald Sull, Charles Sull, William Cipolli, and Caio Brighenti, “Why Every Leader Needs to Worry About Toxic Culture,” MIT Sloan Management Review, March 16, 2022.  Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1970).  Alison Cook, I Shouldn’t Feel This Way: Name What's Hard, Tame Your Guilt, and Transform Self-Sabatoge into Brave Action (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2024).  #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #MerylHerr #WhenWorkHurts #ToxicWorkplace #Nehemiah #EverydayFaithfulness #Disappointment #Resentment #Love #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

It’s so frustrating to be underestimated by your boss. It can be demoralizing, even humiliating. But there’s also spiritual opportunity there: opportunity for Christ-like self-advocacy, and for letting love overcome resentment. Sources: Romans 12:16-24 (NIV) Acts 24 (NIV) u/Dangerous_Sundae3138, “How to deal with a boss who is constantly putting you and your skillset/experience down?” r/ManagedByNarcissists, November 12, 2023. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Underestimated #BadBoss #Opportunity #SelfAdvocacy #Resentment #Love #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral  

Our careers don’t always keep pace with our capacities. After years of developing a specific skillset, we sometimes find ourselves stuck in a job that doesn’t use it. Or, as we’re growing, we just don’t get the chance that we know we’re ready for. When you’re in that situation, you feel the hit in your finances, your reputation, and your sense of vocation. But could that painful place also be a place of spiritual opportunity? Sources: Romans 12:15-16 (NIV) Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV) Revelation 14:12 (ESV, NIV) Brandon Tucker, “Ukrainian doctor sidelined from Canadian health care due to high exam cost,” Community, Parksville Qualicum Beach News, March 13, 2025. Tom Nelson, Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011). Gretchen Filz, “Read St. Teresa of Avila's Famous Poem, in Her Own Handwriting,” Catholic Company Magazine, October 16, 2015. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

Losing your job can be one of the most miserable experiences of adult life. But could it also be a moment of spiritual opportunity? Sources: Romans 12:15 (NIV) Proverbs 22:29 (NIV) Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 (NIV) Romans 12:3 (NIV) Mathew 6:25-27 (NIV) Luke 15:28-32 (NIV) Note: In the podcast episode itself I accidentally say “Romans 12:12” instead of “Romans 12:15” and “Matthew 5” instead of “Matthew 6”. An off-day for my reference memory, I guess! #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

We kick off a new series with this episode—Divine Disappointments: Facing Pain and Sorrow at Work.   Work isn’t just hard. Often, it hurts.   It hurts when we’re stuck in toxic workplaces, when we’re fired or laid off, when we struggle with burnout, when we get overlooked, when we fail, when we face loss of reputation.   It hurts when your career doesn’t go the way you dreamed it would.   But your pains and sorrows at work can become the places where God meets you. To put it crudely, God understands exactly how much your job sucks.   When we welcome the Holy Spirit into those places so that he can do his transforming work, we discover that they can become the places of our deepest spiritual growth and most fruitful mission. Sources: Ecclesiastes 2:17-26 (NIV) #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

If you want to engage the conversation about faith and politics more deeply, check out these thinkers and leaders. Sources: Proverbs 3:33-34 (ESV) Bonnie Kristian, Staff Editor at Christianity Today Michael Wear, Founder, President and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life Justin Giboney, Founder and President of the AND Campaign Matthew Soerens, VP of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief Feeding America Eugene Cho, President/CEO at Bread for the World Curtis Chang, Executive Director at Redeeming Babel #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Politics #FaithAndPolitics #BonnieKristian #ChristianityToday #MichaelWear #CenterForChristianityAndPublicLife #JustinGiboney #ANDCampaign #MattSoerens #WorldRelief #FeedingAmerica #EugeneCho #BreadForTheWorld #CurtisChang #RedeemingBabel #TheAfterParty #UnitedStates #Conservative #Liberal #RightWing #LeftWing #Neighbors #CommonGood #FaithHopeLove #PoliticalPower #Allegiance #Idolatry #Resurrection #Witness #Eschatology #ReturnOfChrist #ChristTheKing #Parousia #SecondComing #PoliticalIssues #Immigration #Abortion #FoodInsecurity #AwkwardConversations #TakeAStand

Can you articulate a commitment to a Gospel value while also charitably presenting the political viewpoint that is opposite to your own?   Food insecurity—lack of consistent access to the food needed to live a healthy and active life—is a serious issue, even here in the United States. It’s also an issue that stirs us as disciples of Jesus; caring for those who don’t have the food they need is an indisputable Gospel value. But we may still disagree about the political policies that affect food insecurity.   Learning to distinguish between the Gospel value and our own political perspective is critical. When we can charitably disagree, we are better able to love each other, and everyone around us. Sources: Matthew 25:31-46 (NIV) Romans 13:4 (NIV) “Food Security in the U.S. - Definitions of Food Security,” Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, January 10, 2025. “What is Food Insecurity?” Hunger in America, Feeding America. “Map the Meal Gap: Hunger & Poverty in the United States,” Map the Meal Gap, Feeding America. Alexander Griswold, “A Confused Compassion: The Religious Battle over SNAP,” Juicy Ecumenism, The Institute on Religion and Democracy, September 27, 2013. Jen Pollock Michel, “A Rich Christian in the Age of Food Stamps,” Her.meneutics, Christianity Today, September 17, 2013. Catlin Nchako, “A Closer Look at Who Benefits from SNAP: State-by-State Fact Sheets,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 21, 2025. Northern Illinois Food Bank #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Politics #FaithAndPolitics #FoodBank #FoodBanking #FeedingAmerica #AlexanderGriswold #JenPollockMichel #CharitableDisagreement #UnitedStates #Conservative #Liberal #RightWing #LeftWing #Neighbors #CommonGood #FaithHopeLove #PoliticalPower #Allegiance #Idolatry #Resurrection #Witness #Eschatology #ReturnOfChrist #ChristTheKing #Parousia #SecondComing #PoliticalIssues #Immigration #Abortion #FoodInsecurity #AwkwardConversations #TakeAStand

What does it look like to bring compassion and conviction together in conversations about abortion?   Often, the cultural debate focuses on the question of law: What should be legal or illegal. It’s a critical question.   But as disciples of Jesus, our care extends beyond the question of what’s legal or not. Not only do we care about just law, we also care about the whole social fabric of the community.   As the church, we are called not just to influence policy, but also to *do the work* of Gospel invitation in our own neighborhoods, presenting a more compelling alternative to violent choices.   When we’re engaged in that work, our faith in Jesus informs how we vote, how we talk, and how we love.   Sources: Luke 1:39-45 (NIV) Psalm 139:13-18 (NIV) The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Commonly Called the Didache, in Early Christian Fathers (The Library of Christian Classics, Volume 1), translated and edited by Cyril C. Richardson (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1953 / Christian Classics Ethereal Library). Together Chicago #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Politics #FaithAndPolitics #Luke1 #Psalm139 #Didache #LifeInTheWomb #TogetherChicago #CompassionAndConviction #UnitedStates #Conservative #Liberal #RightWing #LeftWing #Neighbors #CommonGood #FaithHopeLove #PoliticalPower #Allegiance #Idolatry #Resurrection #Witness #Eschatology #ReturnOfChrist #ChristTheKing #Parousia #SecondComing #PoliticalIssues #Immigration #Abortion #FoodInsecurity #AwkwardConversations #TakeAStand

Migration is part of the story that God is telling in the world.   Often, when the topic of immigration comes up, we think about how to defend “our turf.” But what if the Bible gives us a different way of thinking about turf?   When we look at God’s instructions to his people in the Torah, we find a call to compassion and empathy toward immigrants.   As we make the leap from those instructions to our context in a pluralistic representative democracy, there are still questions about policy that followers of Jesus can disagree about in good faith.   But whatever our take on policy is, it needs to reflect the Bible’s priorities for public leadership.   When we step into the story God is telling about migration, we practice witness in a way that others “may see [our] good deeds and glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12 NIV). Our compassionate welcome of immigrants into our communities, in our own action as the community of God, and in the ways we influence public policy, is a witness to the power of Jesus' resurrection to everyone around us.  Sources: 1 Peter 2:12 (NIV) Leviticus 19:9-10 (ESV) Deuteronomy 10:17-21 (ESV) Acts 17:26-27 (NIV) #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Politics #FaithAndPolitics #Migration #1Peter2 #Leviticus19 #Deuteronomy10 #Acts17 #AllNations #UnitedStates #Conservative #Liberal #RightWing #LeftWing #Neighbors #CommonGood #FaithHopeLove #PoliticalPower #Allegiance #Idolatry #Resurrection #Witness #Eschatology #ReturnOfChrist #ChristTheKing #Parousia #SecondComing #PoliticalIssues #Immigration #Abortion #FoodInsecurity #AwkwardConversations #TakeAStand

“True integration will be achieved by men who are willingly obedient to unenforceable obligations.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Sources: Proverbs 29:4,7,14 (NIV) Isaiah 10:1-4 (NIV) Isaiah 16:4-5 (NIV) Romans 13:8-10 (NIV) Michael Wear, The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2024). Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (Boston: Beacon Press, 1967). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Politics #FaithAndPolitics #MLK #MartinLutherKing #WhereDoWeGoFromHere #MichaelWear #SpiritOfOurPolitics #DallasWillard #UnitedStates #Conservative #Liberal #RightWing #LeftWing #Neighbors #CommonGood #FaithHopeLove #PoliticalPower #Allegiance #Idolatry #Resurrection #Witness #Eschatology #ReturnOfChrist #ChristTheKing #Parousia #SecondComing #PoliticalIssues #Immigration #Abortion #FoodInsecurity #AwkwardConversations #TakeAStand