THE HUSBAND THAT WILL BE RESPECTED 5

I could sense the hurt in her voice when she said to me, “I do not think we can ever work together”. Those words pierced my heart heavily. It was the cap of a season that we had struggled with bonding. I did not seem to know the right things to do. We were more like Moses and Zipporah when our desire would have been Aquila and Priscilla.

However, just a year later, everything changed. Today, the bond we share in all we do is amazing. But there was a time when it was a great struggle.

I was in awe when our spiritual parents mentioned how they struggled in the first two years of marriage. It was so bad that the option of divorce was already on the table. Today, if they do not mention that part, you would not know they had such a history.

A husband who will be respected would be the one who knows how to carry his wife along on the journey of life. He has found her combination code, and he is maximising it. He takes the pain to study and understand her.

This was the Achilles heel of Moses. Moses was a great leader in his ministry calling. The only place they could hold him in accusation was his marital journey.

Numbers 12:1 NKJV
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

Moses carried everyone along, but not Zipporah. He ended up with another wife.

This started due to a conflict between Moses and Zipporah:

“Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4‬:‭20‬, ‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

He pursued the assignment of God alone. He left his wife behind.

“So he came to Moses, bringing with him Moses’ wife Zipporah, who had been left behind,”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭18‬:‭2‬ ‭GNT‬‬

We do not know when, but Moses sent back his wife, and he did not pursue God’s assignment with her.

“And Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people—that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, with her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land”)”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭18‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We saw Moses speak on behalf of his sister. He kept the whole nation waiting for seven days till she was cleansed:

So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!” Then the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again.”
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭12‬:‭11-‭15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

He wanted His brother-in-law to come along (for the assignment). He even pleaded with him. He said “Please”. He begged:

“Now Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.” And he said to him, “I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.” So Moses said, “Please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. And it shall be, if you go with us—indeed it shall be—that whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same we will do to you.””
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭10‬:‭29‬-‭32‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Moses did not take the pain to carry his wife along. Moses never fought for his wife to come alongside him:

“So he came to Moses, bringing with him Moses’ wife Zipporah, who had been left behind,”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭18‬:‭2‬ ‭GNT‬‬

Dear husband, are you carrying your wife along? Do you see her as a part of you? Are you on a solo run?