“Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the LORD our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the LORD.” – Exodus 10:26 (NASB)
There exists nothing that is off limits to God. I do not mean just the general stuff of the universe; I mean the very things of our own lives. Everything – absolutely everything – must be yielded to the Lord if we hope to walk in His freedom.
Who knows what God will require of us? The one thing that is certain is that He expects our willingness to give to Him anything. Therefore, at all times we must stand ready to hand over some particular component of our lives.
When exasperated by the plague of darkness over the land of Egypt, Pharaoh angrily told Moses to leave Egypt with all the people, including the Israelite children. However, Pharaoh stipulated that the Israelite flocks and herds be left behind. One can only imagine how tempting it might have been for Moses to take the offer and run, given the horror suffered by the enslaved Hebrew nation to that point. But Moses remembered God’s clear directive to leave the Egyptian land in order to worship the Lord. An exit at this point would be disobedient; a departure under these circumstances would prohibit Moses and the Hebrews from offering whatever sacrifice God would require.
Moses stands wholeheartedly before the God He trusts and proclaims to the powerful Egyptian ruler that he and his people will not leave without every last Israelite animal. Moses explains that God will require some of those animals as sacrifices; and because it is not currently known which ones, all must go with them.
How accurate a portrayal of the stance each Christian must have when it comes to the proper entrance to freedom! We do not yet know what God will require of us, so we will take everything with us to Him in anticipation of our sacrifice!
The final plague – the death of the firstborn – will bring the ultimate deliverance of the Israelite people. Ironically, that plague is brought on by Moses’ refusal to leave Egypt without every last animal. Had Moses given in and left without all of God’s requirements, what would have happened? In God’s scheme of things, the willingness to give it all precipitates the genuine freedom we gain because of the death – and resurrection – of Jesus.
Do not hold back. Know that God requires everything. Do not allow the difficulty of yielding any and all of your life to stop the Lord’s plan of deliverance for you. Let the words of trusting Moses resonate in your mind, “Not a hoof shall be left behind.”