When Your Back's Against The Wall

When Your Back’s Against The Wall

Scripture: Psalm 37:25; Second Chronicles 20:1-18

The title of my message this morning is “When Your Back’s Against the Wall.” This message was inspired by my brother, Rev. Barry Johnson, January teaching letter titled “God’s Instruction for Victory.” If you are one of the recipients of his teaching letter then this message will be a refresher for you. Thank you Barry for sharing the Word!

Let’s take a moment and talk about what it means to have your backs against the wall. The origin of this term is not fully known but there is some agreement that it most likely originated within the military. The phrase originated from a situation when a person is in a fight and his back is against the wall. In a military battle if you are forced to retreat to a point where you have moved back as far as you can go and you can no longer move forward without encountering the enemy, it was said that your back was against the wall. While you could not be attacked from behind, you also could not move forward without coming under attack. This situation only applied when one side greatly outnumbered the other – the one’s whose back was against the wall would be the one outnumbered. In our lives we use the term when we are in a bad position and/or situation in which we are forced to do something in order to avoid failure. In these situations our options are limited and we can no longer delay our response. We have to do something. We have to make a decision. We have to choose. And many times, we make the decision to do something even though we feel we are not truly ready to do it.

Last week I shared with you that what we do in life, we choose to do. I want you to remember what I shared last week because when our backs are against the wall how we respond to whatever it is pushing us against the wall is up to us and no one else. And believe me when I tell you that there is a biblical way to respond, which is the correct way, and there is an emotional way to respond, which usually worsens the situation. In my message last week I mentioned that I lost my job back in 2014. I shared briefly how that worked to my favor. This morning I want to take you on the journey I went through personally between the time being laid off and when it worked to my favor because it was during that time when my back was against the wall.

In April 2014, my baby sister Kim had a heart attack resulting in a bad burn to her leg. When she was admitted to the hospital for surgery, I flew home to see her. While I was in Tennessee, I received a message from my job letting me know that there was going to be a National call with my division that was scheduled for that Thursday. Immediately everyone suspected that a layoff was coming. Sure enough on that call they announced, that based on the performance and changes within the market, they would be laying off part of the sales force. When I heard this announcement the Spirit told me that I would be laid off. I had survived several layoffs since 2004 so I prayed that I would survive this one. Even though the Spirit told me that I would not, I prayed that I would. Why? Because in my mind I was walking in FAITH! Even though the Spirit had told me the outcome, in my mind, I actually thought having faith could change things. People, this was not about my faith! We were told that we would be notified on June 26th if we had a job or not. So for two months I worked in limbo, praying to keep my job while preparing to lose it. The book of James says a double minded man is unstable in his ways, his thoughts and actions. That was me – praying for one thing but preparing for another – and I was doing it knowing the decision had been made! When I shared the news with Nikki she said that she too knew that I would be impacted. You would think that if the Spirit told both Nikki and I the same thing that I would take comfort in the next journey of my life – but that was not my response. I prayed to keep my job. I want you to see this clearly. God in His grace and mercy told me that I would be laid off. He was preparing me so I could take comfort in knowing that He had me. However, I “chose” to respond in a different way. I was asking God to change the outcome. I was telling Him that I did not believe what He had told me. In other words, while I was trying to walk in faith, I was walking in unbelief because I refused to accept what I know the Spirit had told me.