Help Along the Way

There are seasons in my life when I felt very spiritually strong. When I could stand up to anything, any obstacle along the way, any trial, I felt like my faith was strong, my connection to God was strong, my trust in God was strong. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever been in that sort of season of your life where you just really feel it? You're connected to God, you're doing all the right things. It feels like no matter what comes, you're immovable. Have you been there? I've also felt the opposite. Have you been there? Have you felt like life is making you feel like you're just hanging on? That God is... I've felt like, God, what am I doing here? I'm so weak. I'm so weak. Have you been there? Now that I'm looking over the crust of middle age, I've seen these ups and downs in my life. I've seen these ups and downs, and it feels like there's a bit of a cadence to it. I don't think I'm alone in some of the experiences that I'm sharing today. Sometimes, though, I just find myself weary. Just weary. The battle is long for some of us. I often have ringing in my ear what Jesus said to the disciples when they asked about his second coming. He said, you know, the one who endures to the end will be saved. I think that word endures was probably the right choice of word, because sometimes that's the way it feels, doesn't it? We've heard sermons on Jesus' temptation at the time that he was tested, and afterwards we see kind of a different side of Jesus. We see a time that he was a little bit spent. Let's look right after the temptation of Jesus in Matthew. Let's look in Matthew 4. Let's see what he's experiencing here. In Matthew 4, and we'll read just right afterwards. We'll jump into the story right afterwards in verse 10. Jesus said to him, and that is Satan. Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve. Verse 11, Then the devil left him, I'm reading out of the ESV if it's a little bit different, and behold angels came and were ministering to him. The temptation of Jesus is mentioned in three of the Gospels, and two of them share a little bit of light with this last line that angels came and ministered to him. Why? Why? Was he weary? I mean, often we think about the fasting aspect, right? And we think, yeah, I've been fasting for 40 days. Yeah, that would knock me out, too. The angels came and ministered to him, though. Was he spiritually weak? Was he in a weakened state? Was he spent? Well, it doesn't really say. It doesn't really say. We just know that right after fasting and the spiritual confrontation, and this battle was over, angels came and ministered to him. You know, when I think about the stories of Jesus, I look back and just in my mind, just right out of the box, I think, you know, we remember the powerful things. We remember the miracles. We remember the healing. We remember definitely the turning over the table at the temple. Those are the things that we remember. The big things, but this moment feels different. Feels a little bit different. It feels very intimate, too. So we have our Savior here in the state that he needs shoring up. We see that he did empty himself of something. He took the form of a servant and became the likeness of men. And we see that right here after the interpretation. We see that he had the strength to withstand 100 percent. But we also see that it took its toll. Have you thought about that? Have you really let that sink in? He needed someone there alongside him. It took its toll on him.

I often don't think of Jesus in this state of being spent fatigued. Even if the sermons I've heard, you know, it's like, well, he tempted and then he was like, be gone, Satan. And then angels came and ministered to him. And then the story goes on. But they came to him, to his side, and ministered to him and served him. Again, we're not told exactly, but let's consider the broad view of what could be happening here. Let's go to Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1. Now, the first part of Hebrews here, we get some insight. The writer of Hebrews is setting up the case that, you know, Jesus is greater than that of an angel. And in Hebrews 1, we see, starting in verse 13, it sort of comes to a conclusion there. And which, to which of the angels has he ever said, sit in my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Verse 14. Are they, that's the angels, not ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? For us today, let's consider the role of the angels. It's interesting. They're ministering spirits. Here we have a creation of God, spirit beings that have a specific role, and that is to minister, to serve. And it says they were sent. It's a directive. It's a directive that they have by the creator of all things to serve. And who are they to serve? Those who are to inherit eternal life. So these spiritual beings with a role to serve, those who are to inherit eternal life. The angels have a job, and that's who they're there to serve.

Those who are spiritually led, spiritually battling, spiritually overcoming, spiritually putting on the nature of God every day, that's who the angels are there to serve. And in the Gospels, we see them fulfilling this role right here. Jesus had emptied himself, but his goal was to enter back into the realm of eternity. And they were there at that moment to shore him up, to bring him back.

One of my favorite YouTube channels is a couple who does travel vlogs. And in the last couple years, they've changed a little bit because the husband has become an ultra-marathoner. I know you're looking at me and you're like, oh yeah, he probably knows everything there is to know about ultra-marathoning. Thank you. I know very little about ultra-marathoning. But I've learned quite a bit, because it's one of my favorite YouTube channels. The husband has been doing these ultra-marathons. And what that is, is not just a marathon, 26.2, it's 50 miles. It's 80 miles. It's 100 miles. It's 120 miles. It's 240 miles is the last one that I saw him run.

And in these ultra-marathons, you may or may not know, they don't do this work alone. They have a crew, and they have pacers. The crew's job is to travel from stopping point to stopping point, or rest area. Make sure they have all their supplies, change of clothes, new shoes, things of that. Make sure that their bags are full of the nutrition they need. But typically, after around mile 50, they're joined by pacers. These are people who run with the ultra-marathoner.

They actually go on the trail and run with them. And they do this for several reasons. The role of the pacer is to maintain steady running or hiking. They help them navigate the course, because a lot of times, ultra-marathoners are going on, they're running five days straight, and they're getting maybe an hour of sleep here and there, maybe eight hours total for the whole thing. So, mentally, they are in a foggy state. The pacer provides motivation and conversation to keep them going. They monitor them for signs of fatigue and dehydration or injury. And they make sure that they keep up with their nutrition and hydration. And they also keep them safe at night. A lot of times, they're running through these jagged paths in the middle of the night, and they keep them safe. So, what the pacer does is they minister to the runner.

I don't think I need to explain all the spiritual analogies that you can see here. But what the pacer has to do is to keep the runner safe, keep them healthy, keep them strong, to shore them up, to encourage them, and to keep them mentally in the game. During this exhaustive state, that's what the pacer does.

God created angels to be our spiritual pacers, so to speak. Jesus said that He would never leave us or forsake us, and He does that through the Spirit. But God's care for our spiritual well-being doesn't end there. He also created angels to minister to the weary. So, here's the encouragement I want to leave you with today. If Jesus, after fasting and resisting the temptation and standing strong during a spiritual battle, needed to be ministered to, then we should not feel surprised at our own weakness at times. We should remember that faithfulness does not mean that we're never tired, and it doesn't mean that endurance never takes its toll. I think oftentimes, during this time of year, as we're going through Scripture and we are doing a self-examination, we can be hard on ourselves as we reflect and examine. I think at this time, sometimes it's a good reminder that a faithful person keeps going. And the writer of Matthew tells us something I think that is absolutely beautiful. And that's when the battle ended with Jesus, the spiritual battle for the temptation. The angels came and ministered to Him. His weariness was not ignored, but the angels of heaven came and answered, and they responded. And it's the same God who sent His Son to die for us. He's not forgotten us either, and He knows that we're running towards eternal life. So when the road feels long and it feels like your faith is getting tired and you wonder if you can keep enduring, remember, you're not running alone. You're not running alone. God has not only given us His Spirit, but He's also appointed unseen servants to help us along the way, along the journey, to strengthen us when we're tired, to strengthen us when we're weary, and to help us keep going forward. So if you're feeling strong today, good. Keep running. But also look around. Are there others around you who are not strong? Is there someone else that you can help encourage? If you're feeling weak today, keep enduring. Because the God who calls you to this race is the same God who sends help along the way.