Joshua Swanson: Welcome to The Walk; a devotionals podcast led by Worship Leaders. In this episode, singer songwriter and American Idol alum, Colton Dixon tells the story of losing something important, but gaining a whole new level of faith. Here we go.
Colton Dixon: Hey, this is Colton Dixon. I’m so honored to be with you. Um, truly it is an honor for me to be here. Um, you might have heard, uh, of me, if you watched American Idol a decade ago. It’s been a long time, but, um, man, I would love to just share a little bit about faith today. If that’s cool with you guys.
A lot of what I’ve done has honestly come relatively easy and I don’t mean that to sound a certain way, but I know that God opens doors that no man can shut and I’m so thankful for that. He planted a seed of music in my heart and I’ve just, uh, I’ve been able to walk that out and see it come to fruition and, and walk through doors that it’s been so obvious that God was the, um, orchestrator of behind the scenes. But, um, there was a season in my life that, um, was very much a dry season.
It was probably three or four years ago now, but I was dropped by my record label. And, uh, I’ll be honest, it kind of hit me out of nowhere. Yeah, it was a really tough season. Um, a lot of questions, a lot of, uh, God, do you know what you’re doing? It’s funny that I walked through that, um, just before the pandemic hit as well.
So, I almost feel like I got some insight to what that was going be like so that I was then able to write songs from that place. God’s timing is perfect. I will say that, but it was in that season where I looked around me and realized that God was working on my behalf, even though my current situation didn’t look like how I wanted it to, I still knew that God was on the throne and that He was good.
So, my wife said something that greatly impacted me and even us, um, she said, what if this isn’t a setback? Cuz man, it seemed like a setback in the moment, but what if this is God setting you up for what’s next? You know, my posture for so long was when something would come my way or, um, I would work on something, whether it be a record or have a high moment, so to speak in my career in my life and I would hold onto it with white knuckles, you know, and I think God wants us to experience those high moments, but our posture shouldn’t be hanging onto them for dear life. I think if, if we have the posture of open hands, he’s able to put things in our hands, but then also when they move on to somewhere else or someone else, our fingers aren’t pried open and we’re not left with so many questions.
Right. And that was me in that moment. My, my fingers were hurting because I was hanging on so badly to this record deal that I had, which I thought gave me credibility as an artist. But coming out of that season, we learned how to trust God, truly how to trust God as our provider. It was just out of that into pandemic season where we experienced, okay, live shows aren’t happening anymore. How are we going to make money? I won’t go into all the details of how an artist makes money, but live shows are a big part of that. So not having that was very scary. Um, but like I said, we learned how to truly trust God as our provider. It’s not a career. It’s not a, um, a side hustle. When you put your faith in God, he will continue to put things in your hand.
Um, and again, when you have that open posture, it can be just a beautiful thing. So, coming out of that season, we learned again how to put our faith in our hope in God and I look back now at some of the stories in the Bible, take Noah, for example, um, they’re in the middle of a drought and God asks Noah to build a boat. And, uh, I read that story and I was so convicted because the Bible says just this, I think Hollywood gets this wrong, he, he says, just this, that Noah was obedient period. And I thought, man, the amount of faith that someone has to have to, to know that they hear the voice of God so clearly that regardless of what people think of, what it looks like in the natural, they’re going to do it without a complaint, without a, a question and be obedient. That really resonated with me that entire season of my life is, um, really what kind of has led me to this point in my career and in my life and in my walk as a believer. It also helped inspire, shameless plug, Um, but a song that we just released a month ago called Build a Boat. It was out of that, um, out of that story, it’s crazy faith, but there’s always a reward waiting on the other side of crazy faith. I think if God asks something big of you that He’s wanting to get something to you. He doesn’t want to rob you of anything.
Um, you know, sometimes we settle for less than when we can have God’s best and I learned in that season that you know some things aren’t looking good, but I’m gonna continue to trust God that he knows what He’s doing and I’m gonna do what He asks me to do. And I’ll be a hundred percent honest with you, I didn’t do it without questions. I didn’t do it without complaints sometimes, but we did it, my wife and I said, okay, God, you’re our provision. Um, not my job, not, not my followers on social media, whatever it is, you’re our provider.
Um, so we locked into that and we started to see God work these amazing things together for us because our eyes were expectant. It’s in that posture of expectancy that you can see God working, but when you’re going through the motions and you’re and you’re not actively looking, Um, you’re gonna miss so many things that God is either trying to get to you, or they’re just gonna fly right by you because you’re not knowing where to look or you’re not looking period.
So, um, that was a tough season, but I’m here to tell you that, um, after every, um, sewing season, like I like to call them, there’s a harvest season. Yeah, incredible journey that my wife and I were on that’s inspired that song called Build a Boat.
Joshua Swanson: More from Colton Dixon in a moment, but first I wanted to quickly thank Soldiers For Faith, who is the sponsor of this episode. It’s a very special ministry motivated by the words of Phillip, ‘COME AND SEE’ from John 1 when Jesus is calling his disciples. They provide methods to ‘COME AND SEE’ the Lord, from their Call-In Bible Studies, to their Special Needs ministry, and their At Home Concert Experience, everything they do is motivated by a call to bring people to ‘COME AND SEE’ the Lord. I would invite our listeners to join other believers seeking Biblical truths and guidance through the Holy Spirit by Checking out www.soldiersforfaith.com for more details. We’ll put the link in the show notes on WorshipLeader.com, so be sure to check it out.
All right, now back to Colton who rewinds us back to 1 Kings.
Colton Dixon: So, there was a passage of scripture that greatly inspired me during that, um, that drought that I went through. It also inspired, um, this song Build a Boat. It’s in 1 King’s 18 and starts in verse 43. So, this is Elijah telling Ahab to go look toward the coast. “He told his servant and he went and looked. He said, there’s nothing there. Seven times Elijah said, go back. And on the seventh time, the servant reported a cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” What I get from this passage is to not give up and to celebrate the small things. You know, something that may have been overlooked by someone else, Elijah celebrated it and he says, that’s it. That’s what we’re looking for. God said it was gonna rain so they were looking for this cloud, right and sent his servant seven times. Um, I bet that servant was tired, but he kept looking. So, um, coming outta that season of drought, my wife and I were looking for that cloud man, we were, we were looking and, and praying and asking God for a sign, like show us, what’s next. We trust that you’re gonna provide, um, but what does that look like for us? What are we looking for? Um, you know, so we kept on believing and believing and believing, and, and then I, I did what I knew to do. I didn’t stop doing what I knew to do, just because the circumstance around me didn’t look like how I wanted it to.
Um, I kept doing everything I knew to do in the natural, you know, I think that God gave us a brain, so we should use that sometimes too. Um, sometimes we forget that and we rely completely on God to take care of, you know, um, the things around you. But I think he also equipped us with tools, right? He gave us authority. He says, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Right? So, um, he gave us these tools, the ultimate being the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us. Right? So like I said, we did everything we knew to do and, and, um, I, I kept writing and, and kept working on this gift that he had given me and low and behold we get this call that, uh, another record label was interested in not trying to, um, sign me.
It’s just a cool story of God’s faithfulness. Um, I’m now with Atlantic Records, which is confusing to me and insane to me all at the same time. And, um, just knowing the opportunities that come with that is really cool, but I know that God had everything to do with it. There’s no reason why I should be on the same label as Ed Sheeran, but I am, you know, and all, all glory to God for that.
Um, but it was in that season where we had to trust that God had a plan. So, like I said, um, we took amazing inspiration from that passage of scripture and uh, put God first and said, hey, uh, we’re gonna do what we know to do, and you’re gonna work out everything else. And he did.
I think it’s quite remarkable that the servant kept going back. He was a servant so I don’t know if he had much choice, but, um, but still seven times that’s a lot of times. I don’t, I don’t know how far that journey was. Um, I assume it, it wasn’t from here to the door, which is, you know, I don’t know, 15 feet, it’s a commitment. It requires something of you.
Faith is not always easy. I think that we have to lay down something, whether it be our pride or whether it be, um, in this case, you know, a foot race to get and to look and to see if what God has promised is coming to fruition. It always will. I don’t know if you’re in that waiting season. I don’t know if you’re praying and believing for that miracle that you’ve been praying and believing for, for a long time, but I can promise you this, God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to his purpose. And, and don’t for one second, think that He is forsaken you, um, because He hasn’t. He promises that in His Word. He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
But sometimes it’s about the journey. Sometimes it’s about learning things along the way. If, if we could see everything, then it wouldn’t be faith, right? Faith, um, is the evidence of things hoped for the, uh, confirmation of things not seen. Right? So, it’s in those moments that you have such an amazing opportunity for your faith to grow stronger.
So, take the opportunity, right? Grab it and run with it and whether it’s 70 times or seven times or one time, don’t give up because God’s got you, He’s got a plan and a purpose for you. It’s gonna be so good. Just don’t give up. That would be my biggest thing to tell anybody who is hoping and believing for something, don’t give up because God wants to get it to you.
Joshua Swanson: That other scripture reference that Colton threw in there was from Hebrews 11:1. I wanted to make sure you guys caught that it’s one of my favorites. The ESV has it this way, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen.” And King James has it this way; “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.”
Thank you, Colton for that personal story and that encouragement to live with open hands and hearts. Our listeners should also check out our Instagram account because we recorded some Worship Sound Bites with Colten about some important topics. He lays out some great wisdom that you won’t wanna. We’ll play out this episode with Colton’s new song, Build a Boat, and that’s not because he plugged it, but because it’s a great song with an even better message.
As always, a special thanks to Matt McCarty for producing and editing today’s episode. Jacob Fairclough produced our theme song. The Walk is brought to you by Worship Leader Magazine, which is an Authentic Media brand. I’m Joshua Swanson. Here’s Build a Boat.
