Coaching Thoughts from JOSHUA at Sight & Sound
I got the privilege of going to the premiere of this year's Lancaster Sight & Sound show, Joshua! What a treat! I was asked to share my takeaways with a staff member there, so I decided to share them here for you as well.
Here's the email I sent, plus a little extra.
- I was personally challenged and encouraged that waiting can equal faithfulness. Moses had to wait before he was called to be the deliverer. The Israelites had to wait in the desert for 40 years before entering the promised land, and then another 40 years after the ten spies came back with a bad report. I am such an action-oriented person that waiting feels like a punishment, an act of passivity, fear, or disobedience. However, if waiting is what is being asked of us, then it is the exact right thing to do.
- I/we can wait in grumbling or gratefulness. It’s all about perspective. How many times have we judged the Israelites for grumbling when we do the same thing? We grumble just like they did when we say, “Well at least when I was back there I had _________” Instead of looking back and complaining, we can choose gratefulness and look for wonder all around us. Faithfulness is a state of the heart that must include trust. Personally, this is a challenging and encouraging word in the season I am presently in.
- Joshua had to bear the consequences of others' lack of faith. Having to wait and be faithful for that reason would have been so hard, but it still requires choosing a grateful and trusting perspective! For example, someone once asked me a powerful coaching question, "What's the rush?" and it still rings so true for me! (Thank you, April!)
- When the walls of Jericho came down because of God’s doing, it was so powerful! How often do we feel we need to do something in order to make something happen when God wants to show us His power? Again, with the waiting… and listening for His instructions and timing.
- The Israelites lived in the 6-day manna miracle. How wild!? For most days, it would rot if kept overnight, but on the 7th day, it wasn’t there, and what had been kept overnight didn’t rot. And this happened week after week.
- What do we live with that is miraculous that we take for granted?
- What do we need to take in daily from Him?
- How are we honoring the Sabbath in our lives today?
- There is reference to how the Israelites had fought many battles before Jericho - I had to look that part up! That made the silent marching strategy even more powerful! Joshua listened to how God wanted them to approach this city, and it was different from other strategies God had given them against other enemies.
Possible devotional follow-up coaching questions:
-What bondage have you been asking God to deliver you from?
-Where in your life is God asking you to be grateful instead of grumbling?
-What is a future goal God wants to give you His perspective on when the world is saying it can’t be done?
-How can you remain faithful in a season of waiting?
-What miracles do you live with regularly that may have become commonplace to you?
-Where is there awe available in your life?
-How do you honor the Sabbath?
-What is God saying to you in the situation you are in? (Hint: it may not be the same as the last time, just as the strategy against Jericho was not the same as other advances Israel made. )
-What is God preparing you for in your current wilderness?
-Who are you watching and learning from?
I am so grateful to have gone to that show! If you have a chance to visit a Sight & Sound production in Lancaster, PA, or Branson, MO, you won't regret it!