Circumstances are never permanent. Situations are never constant. Everything changes. Change is a constant in the equation of life. However, the devil is able to capture a time-frame in your life when things are not going quite well for you, and twist it to your disadvantage. He’s able to creep in at your weak and unguarded moments to embellish and amplify the catastrophes going on in your life. He tried to pull this stunt on Jesus. “You claim to be the son of God,” he said to Him. “Is this what the son of God should look like? You say you are the Son of the Almighty God, Maker of heaven and earth, Is this where you should be living? Should the king of kings and the Lords of Lords be stranded in this place without bread?”
My emphasis is on the phrase – “If you’re the son of God.” The devil continued to taunt Jesus, “Look at where you are? Look at your environment. Just take a look around you, Almighty God. Is this where you should be? Is this what the physical circumstances of the son of God should be like? Ok, well, if you insist that you’re the son of God, you should have power enough to change it.”
Now I want you to look at that particular issue and imagine yourself in the position of Jesus. Just imagine yourself in the shoes of Jesus, because that is the position most of us have been in at different points in our lives; and there’ll definitely be several of such scenarios ahead in the course of you life.
In Jesus’ temptation, Satan persisted in mocking Him in other to get Him to question His divinity. It’s the same old trick that he tries to play on people today. It’s an old trick. And it’s not just an old trick, it’s an effective trick. It’s a powerful trick.
Jesus did not fall for this trick, because He had a sound self-image that was independent of His immediate and temporary circumstances; and in this, He is our perfect example. Never allow the devil to use your immediate and temporary circumstances to define who you are.
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
~ 2 Corinthians 4:18