Every year on St. Patrick’s Day people all around the world make sure to wear something green in order to avoid being pinched. It’s not uncommon to see St. Patrick’s Day parties where people are decked out in green from head to toe with clovers on their clothes and hats. Over the years, leprechauns and corned beef have become synonymous with the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. However, St. Patrick, the man behind what has become a very playful holiday, was actually a hero of the Christian faith and someone we can look to as an example in our own lives. Even though St. Patrick and the holiday that bears his name is never mentioned in the Scripture, we can look to his example, just like we do other Christians in an effort to apply his lessons to our own lives.
Who Was St. Patrick?
When many people hear the name “St. Patrick” they automatically picture a leprechaun wearing a green top hat carrying a shillelagh. While that image has become the mascot for St. Patrick’s Day, it’s important to realize that St. Patrick was a very real person.
History teaches us that St. Patrick was born around A.D. 385. Ironically, St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish; he was born in Britain. Tragically, when Patrick was only 16, he was kidnapped by pirates and was forced into slavery where he served the Druids. The Druids, a violent cult based in Ireland were notorious for the way that they abused their slaves, forcing them into a life of brutal labor where they would endure horrible mistreatment. According to history, Patrick became a pig shepherd in the hills or Ireland. While his job did provide some sort of reprieve from the beatings and torture of the Druids, it also meant that he spent most of his time in total isolation, surrounded only by swine.
Over the years, some of St. Patrick’s writings have been uncovered. Within these writings, we have learned that Patrick spent a great deal of his time in the fields with pigs cold, hungry and alone. However, it was there that he learned how to truly seek God. Patrick’s writings discuss how he would spend all day and all night in prayer many times. According to his journals, Patrick received a vision from God roughly six years into his slavery. In that vision, St. Patrick says that God told him that he would return to his homeland and preach the Gospel. Shortly after that first vision, Patrick records a second vision where God told him that his way of escape was there. Armed with nothing but a divine vision and promise, Patrick escaped his slavery and traveled approximately 200 miles, where he found a ship bound for modern-day France. It was there that he began training for ministry.
Over the next several years, St. Patrick continued to live a life of prayer and dedication to God. After he was finished with his training, he was ordained as a Bishop around A.D. 432. It was then that he returned to his homeland, just as God had told him, and began spreading the Gospel. According to folklore, St. Patrick returned and drove all the snakes out of Ireland. However, there really weren’t any snakes to drive out. Instead, it is believed that those snakes were an early symbol for the false gods that were so prominent in Ireland at the time. St. Patrick returned to Ireland and openly challenged the rule of the wicked king who sought to force people to worship false gods. St. Patrick preached the truth and the name of Jesus Christ spread across Ireland over the course of his 30-year ministry. St. Patrick died on March 17, 461 and left behind a legacy of faith, evangelism and full commitment to the cause of Christ. There is a lot we can learn from his life.
God Has a Plan for Us
Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV)
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
St. Patrick’s life is one full of twists and turns. We don’t know much about his first 16 years of life, but we know that he was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery when he was 16. While his story is certainly a sad one, the fact remains that God had a plan for St. Patrick’s life that could not be deterred by the wickedness of kidnapping and slavery. Before Patrick was ever born, God had a plan that he would spread the Gospel around Ireland, and he did just that. Before you were born, God had a plan for your life too. Regardless of what sort of adversity you may have faced, God’s purpose for your life remains unchanged.
God Can Use Anything
Christian faith
So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.
The fact that St. Patrick was the victim of kidnapping and human trafficking is tragic. Only a teenager, he had his entire life ahead of him when Irish pirates ripped him from his family and made a profit off of him by selling him into slavery. However, God was able to use that suffering for something good. The Bible tells a similar story about a young man named Joseph. His brothers threw him into a pit and then sold him into slavery. You can read the story of Joseph starting in Genesis 37 and ending in Genesis 50. At the end of the Genesis account of Joseph’s life, we read a quote that could have applied to St. Patrick’s life and to our own:
Genesis 50:20 (ESV)
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
God used the wickedness of Joseph’s brothers and the people that Joseph came in contact with in Egypt to serve a greater purpose. God used the wickedness of the pirates who kidnapped St. Patrick and the Druids who kept him in slavery to drive him to France for ministry training. God is able to use even our worst circumstances to produce something beautiful in the Kingdom.
God Can Use Anyone
Philippians 2:13 (TPT)
God will continually revitalize you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases him.
St. Patrick was a regular person who faced great adversity. There is nothing that suggests that he was some sort of remarkable superhero of the Christian faith. Instead, he was simply a willing vessel who allowed God to use Him to spread the message. In his letter to the Philippian church, Paul told them that God will put passion inside of them to fulfill His purpose. Just as we know that God has a plan for all of us, we can rest in the fact that God uses ordinary men and women to fulfill His divine purpose.
As Christians, we do not worship St. Patrick or any other saint. However, we can look to the examples that they left behind in order to live a life that is more pleasing to God. We can apply the lessons that they left us as a means of finding purpose and comfort when we face challenging times in our lives. As we discussed earlier, several writings of St. Patrick have been uncovered. One of those include a prayer that he wrote. Allow this to be your prayer today:
A prayer of St. Patrick:
“As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.
May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.
May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen.”