A Life Spent In Battle

A Life Spent In Battle

It is said that in life we pick our battles, but what if Satan picks us?

FOR JOHN KNOX, all of life was a battle. He was born in 1514 in Haddington, Scotland; educated at St. Andrews University; and ordained as a Catholic priest. However, by 1542 he, along with many of his contemporaries, had embraced the Protestant faith.

In 1547 Knox went to the Castle of St. Andrews, where he was appointed preacher to the garrison of Protestant soldiers there. In July of that year the Catholic French navy besieged the castle. The Scots held out valiantly for four weeks, but the castle fell, and Knox and the others were taken to France and made galley slaves for nineteen months.

Finally freed in 1549, Knox returned to England, where he was appointed preacher at Berwick and in 1551 chaplain to King Edward VI. Knox’s troubles renewed when Edward VI died in 1553 and was succeeded by Queen Mary I, who restored Roman Catholicism as the religion of her realm. Knox along with many Reformers fled to the Continent, where he spent time with John Calvin in Geneva.

Returning to Scotland in 1559, Knox became the leader of the Scottish Reformation. There he had repeated conflicts with Mary Queen of Scots. After she was deposed, her son became King James VI of Scotland, and John Knox preached at his coronation.

The untiring labors of John Knox resulted in making Scotland the most Calvinistic nation in the world, yet his battle with Satan continued to the end. On Sunday, November 23, 1572, the day before he died, he shared with a friend: “I have been in meditation these two last nights upon the troubled kirk [church] of God, despised in the world, but precious in his sight. I have called to God for her, and commended her to Christ, her head; I have been fighting against Satan, who is ever ready for the assault; I have fought against spiritual wickedness and have prevailed; I have been as it were in heaven, and have tasted of its joys.”

During the night his physician noticed how fitfully he was sleeping and asked him when he awoke how he was doing. Knox answered:

In my lifetime I have been often assaulted by Satan, and many times he hath cast my sins in my teeth, to bring me to despair; yet God gave me strength to overcome his temptations; and now that subtle serpent, who never ceased to tempt, hath taken another course, and seeks to persuade me that all my labors in the ministry, and the fidelity I have shown in that service, have merited heaven and immortality. But blessed be God that He hath brought to my mind that Scripture, “What hast thou that thou hast not received?” and “Not I, but the grace of God, which is in me,” with which he hath gone away ashamed, and shall no more return. And now, I am sure my battle is at an end, and that I shall shortly, without pain of body or trouble of spirit, change this mortal and miserable life for that happy and immortal life that shall never have an end.

The very next day he entered the joy of his Lord that has no end. His battle with Satan was finally over.

Reflection

Do you at times feel as if you are battling Satan? In the description of the Christian’s armor in Ephesians 6:13-18, there are two offensive weapons listed: the word of God (v. 17) and prayer (v. 18). We need to use them both.

Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared. In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 6:13-18