A certain woman picked up her husband’s mobile telephone and went through his WhatsApp messages. As she scrolled down the page, she stumbled on a conversation between her spouse and another lady. The message from her spouse read, “Hi, thank you very much. HNY.” She quickly took a shot of the conversation and dropped the phone without confronting him. After a couple of weeks, she sent a photo of the conversation to her spouse telling him that she has seen that he has started calling other women ‘honey’. Her husband smiled and explained that the acronym ‘HNY’ stands for Happy New Year. They laughed over it; then she said, “I have to protect what belongs to me”.
We could draw some lessons from this story. First, be free to allow your spouse have access to your phone anytime for integrity purpose. Second, it is important to write words in full when conversing with the opposite sex on any device because some acronyms may be misinterpreted by a spouse thereby causing unnecessary quarrels. Furthermore, as a married man or woman, avoid calling friends of the opposite sex names like ‘my love’, ‘honey’, ‘darling’ etc as this may breed suspicion. Like the woman in this story, God is mindful of His children’s thoughts, conversations and action. He does not want to lose any child to satan and his cohorts.
Abraham called God ‘Jehovah Jireh’ when He (God) provided a lamb for his burnt offering (Genesis 22:14). Moses called God ‘Jehovah Nissi’ when God gave the Israelites victory over the Amalekites (Exodus 17:15). There are several names ascribed to God because of His wondrous works, however, in Exodus 34:14b, God called Himself ‘Jealous’. What a wonderful name to be mindful of. God is indeed protective of His children and He can do anything in order not to lose any of them. So God does not want any of His children to have any affair with satan and his cohorts. For this reason, He warned the Israelites not to worship other gods. (Exodus 34:14a)
“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God..” Exodus 34:14
The Bible tells us that God was very angry with the Israelites when Aaron made a god (molten calf) for the Israelites to worship (Exodus 32:4-5). It took Moses’ intercession for God to change His mind from destroying them. What have we made a ‘god’ in our lives that could attract God’s wrath? A ‘god’ could be whatever is distracting us from serving God wholeheartedly. It could be that illegal sexual relation or other ungodly lifestyles. Furthermore, a ‘god’ could be excessive attachment to social media, television or fashion – things done at the expense of activities that could build an individual spiritually.
Each time we are about to be distracted, let us remember that God loves us beyond our comprehension (John 3:16). God sacrificed His Son Jesus Christ to reconcile mankind to Himself and He knows that any ungodly habit a believer engages in could make Him lose a child, so He is fiercely protective of His children. The same way God sent Moses to stop the Israelites from worshipping a molten calf (Exodus 32:7), He sent His word (Bible) to remind His children about His commandments and by the power of the Holy Spirit to teach, reproof and correct them. It is important to meditate on God’s word daily to avoid distractions.
“He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalms 107:20
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness..” 2 Timothy 3:16
Heavenly Father, may You keep holding our hands that we may constantly walk with You until our time on earth is over in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen!
Sunday Omori
HEM Int'l 