When God Commissions You to Launch

I hope that if God has placed the fire within you to launch this year, what I have been sharing has helped encourage you to move towards that end. While I was recently thinking about the process of launching, a song came across my mind that reminded me how stressful and distressing that process might seem. It was in the lyrics of the song “How Firm A Foundation,” that the reality of it hit me.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;

For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

The idea of launching can be quite distressful; especially when you are launching into uncharted territory. I imagine that people like the explorer Christopher Columbus or the astronaut Alan Shephard might have been terrified on their maiden voyage.

While Columbus might have had experienced sailing around the coastline previously before venturing across the Atlantic, imagine how he must have felt leaving the safety of a visible shore not knowing whether he was right in his conclusions about what he would find by traveling the route he proposed to King Ferdinand. Like Columbus, Alan Shephard must have had great trepidations at the thought of entering the unknown vastness of space.

The point that I’m getting at is that when you are launching, there can be great feelings of distress because you feel like you’re out in the deep, all alone, and without a safety net or without help. In reality, you’re never alone. When God commissions you, He not only equips you, He goes with you. God wants to ensure you accomplish everything He has sent you forth to do!

Imagine the comfort that came to Daniel when he faced the lion’s den. How must it have felt for the Hebrew Boys to face the fury of the fiery furnace? Although these young men were among the few who were in service to the king during the days of exile, God had them strategically placed as men of honor and integrity. Their resistance to rejecting God did not go unnoticed.

Sometimes the launch that God sends you on isn’t one that you might have chosen for yourself. Nevertheless, your willingness to go places you in a position of protection. I mentioned before the protection that came to Nehemiah when he went to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Daniel and the Hebrew Boys did not cave to pressure to follow the crowd or submit to unjust rules. God was with John on the Island of Patmos. God was with Paul in the shipwreck. He was even with Peter in prison.

No matter how deep you think you are in it when God tells you to launch, do not be afraid. He is with you. God is your stabilizer, keeper, protector, and guide. Hold fast to Him and what He has promised you.