19 Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.
The Lord gives warning and extends grace even as He is bringing pressure on Pharaoh. The next plague is an unprecedented hailstorm. He lets them know in advance and so that those who are listening can be spared the loss. As the people have witnessed the previous plagues they have begun to learn that when the Lord speaks, they had better listen. The last two plagues of flies and boils showed that the area of the Hebrews was treated differently than the rest of the land. The Hebrews were spared. Now the Lord says there is a hailstorm coming. Some of the people listen and respond. There were some Egyptians who had their livestock and slaves spared because they listened and heeded the Lord’s warning. The Lord is moving many people toward surrender and obedience. He is giving them the opportunity to see the value of obedience. When they obey their lives are spared. Today, we don’t often see examples in our lives of life and death as the result of obedience. But we do make life and death decisions about obedience. The Hebrew’s circumstances were extraordinary, once in history events. If they brought their livestock and servants inside, they survived. If they didn’t come into shelter, they died. It would be very expensive to disobey this time. The last plague of boils was very uncomfortable. This one was deadly. But obedience brought life. When we obey we demonstrate our faith. Obedience is faith in action. Will you put your faith in action today?
The Arnold Journey 