Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: May 13, 2026
Update	: May 13, 2026
Parts	: 03

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part two, I concluded with a particular question. That is this: Did Jacob exercise faith and belief and view God's promise of giving his descendants the land of Canaan as an already done deal? Well, sadly, not exactly, in my opinion. In fact, because he apparently still had some lingering doubts, we are informed that after naming the place Bethel, Jacob made a vow in which he stated the following:

"And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."


Wait a minute! What was THAT? God had in fact already spoken rather clearly and plainly to Jacob, and He had informed him that he and his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. Yet here Jacob is doing what very much seems like the first occurrence of "Let's Make a Deal" with God in the Bible. In other words, "IF God will do this for me, THEN I will do this for Him. Only then will I accept Him as the one true God and faithfully serve Him." My friends, unbelievable! The audacity of the man! It sounds similar to code that is found in a lot of modern computer programs. IF this happens, THEN I will do this, ELSE I will do that otherwise.

Yet despite Jacob's questionable, deal-making attitude, the man who deceived his brother, the man who wrestled with an Angel of the Lord, and the man who even wanted to make a deal with God, was blessed. God honored his faith despite his many flaws and human imperfections, and Jacob's descendants did in fact eventually inherit the land of Canaan, which eventually became known as Israel. Furthermore, as many Christians will already know, it was in fact through the seeds of those three ancient Patriarchs -- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- that our very own Savior of the world would eventually be born, as I explain in other BBB articles.

Now, in the name of fairness and transparency, I do not want to appear as if I am coming down too hard on Jacob because of the way he tried to deal with God, and set his own conditions before he would choose God as his God, and faithfully serve Him as well. As such, I am going to share a small tidbit from my personal life. A number of decades ago, when I first began the Bill's Bible Basics online ministry, I actually stated something similar to the Lord. It was more like a prayer, or like I was beseeching the Lord, and NOT a demand or some kind of a deal as Jacob had done.

Basically, in so many words, what I said was "Lord, you know how much I want to serve You full-time, and not have to be encumbered by having to work at a secular job, and surrender so much of my time to the world just to be able to survive. I really want to dedicate ALL of my time to You, and to being an online witness, and to writing for You, and not for the world." To be clear, unlike Jacob, I ALREADY believed in the Lord. In fact, not only had I believed in Him since I was a young boy, but I had also already served Him faithfully in a number of different fields, including in the United States, Mexico and Japan. You'll find some of the details mentioned in my online biography.

However, at that particular time in my life, I was having a bit of financial difficulty. As a result, I was being forced to invest more of my time in the world for the sake of mere survival than I really wanted to. That was not what God put me on this Earth for. In fact, it was likewise during that same decade that in addition to working at several different secular jobs, I had written a 750-page science fiction novel. Furthermore, I had an agent in Canada -- who stated that my novel was very good -- and I was waiting to see how long it would take before they would finally publish my novel.

While I had the typical dreams of becoming a popular sci-fi novelist, it was not, and has never been, my highest calling in this current life. I already knew that. But again, I was going through somewhat of a financial rough spell, so I was sending out feelers in different directions. In the end, as I had done over five decades earlier when I suddenly left my job as a stock boy at a Pittsburgh department store at the age of eighteen in order to dedicate my life to the Lord, I did something rather similar when I totally abandoned my sci-fi novel -- and any fame and money which may possibly have resulted from that endeavor -- and I put my whole heart and soul into writing for God, and being an online witness of my faith.

As for my personal needs, the Lord worked that out too in a way which I had not expected. Basically, I consciously chose poverty over fame and fortune, and I have zero regrets. Now I live a rather frugal life, living within my means, but I got what I wanted most, which was to dedicate my entire life and all of my time to serving the Lord. To be clear, there is nothing more important to me. Let me also add that if there's one truth of which I am absolutely certain, and which God has proven to me for many years, it is that the Lord is indeed a man of His word. In other words, if we truly seek His Kingdom first in our lives, and faithfully serve Him above everything else, He will NEVER fail to provide our needs.

Please note that the Lord does NOT say overflowing abundance to where we may become tripped off in the trap of materialism as so many modern, selfish preachers have done. Rather, God states that He will provide our NEEDS. Quite frankly, as long as God is providing the basics, I am perfectly happy and fine with that. I don't require more, and having just enough keeps me close and much more dependent on Him. Lastly, this sound, Biblical truth is made plain in verses such as the following:

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."


"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."


"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened . . . If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"


"And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you."


"Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:"


"Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart . . . I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."


"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."


"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."


"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"


"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."


"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."


"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."


Interestingly enough, while at first glance the previous set of Bible verses may seem as if we are going off on a tangent from our primary topic of discussion, the truth of the matter is that they actually fit right into this discussion, because they clearly prove once again that once God has spoken about a certain issue, that is it. There is no need to doubt Him, or require that He say it again. Once is enough. In short, if God says that He will provide our needs if we seek first His Kingdom, then He will most certainly do that, and there is no need for us to keep asking Him about it again and again. My own life is clear proof of that. Yet despite His own general rule of not saying anything more than once, the previous set of verses again reveals that in His mercy, God will at times repeatedly emphasize a certain point for our encouragement, and to increase our faith. Thus, so it is with the abundance of verses which reveal that God will indeed provide for us.

Returning for a moment to the story of the Patriarch Jacob, the main lesson of this series still stands. In other words, there should be absolutely no need for God to have to speak more than once, or to ever have to make a deal with anyone. After all, as we have already clearly seen, He alone is God. As such, He alone makes the rules, and He alone remains in control. Our duty is to simply obey, and to demonstrate our faith and trust in Him, without any arguments or questions. Sometimes it is not always so easy to do, is it?

Leaving behind Gideon and Jacob, let us move on to yet another very famous Biblical character who seriously doubted God, and who majorly questioned whether or not God really knew what He was doing when He chose this man. This particular man who did not accept the Word of the Lord at first, and who tried very hard to get out of the job which God had assigned to him, was Moses. I mentioned in part one -- as well as in my online bio -- that I used to be an extremely shy and introverted person. Well, consider what the Bible has to say regarding Moses:

"(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)"


Now according to the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon, in Numbers 12:3 above, that word "meek" finds its origin in the Hebrew phrase "anav ‭aw-nawv" or "anayv ‭aw-nawv". The lexicon informs us that the phrase can mean meek, humble, poor, lowly, weak or afflicted. The phrase is most often translated as "meek". Thus, because of his naturally meek nature, despite having lived as royalty in Egypt in past decades, when dear Moses first encountered the Burning Bush and learned of his new and bold assignment from the Lord, he simply did NOT want to have anything to do with it. "Nope! Not for me!" was his attitude. In fact, as you can see from the verses below, Moses tried every trick in the book in order to get out of the job:

"And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made mans mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace."


Regarding the previous verses, please notice the similarities between Gideon and Moses. In both cases, the Lord had ALREADY attempted to encourage their faith by performing a number of powerful signs for them. Yet despite what they saw with their own eyes, they were STILL not convinced. As we learned in the previous part of this series, in the case of Gideon it seems as if he was doubting the Lord's ability to actually deliver the Israelites from the armies of the Midianites. However, as I also explained, upon closer scrutiny, it is my opinion that Gideon was actually doubting himself.

In contrast, in the case of Moses' calling, it seems rather clear that Moses -- the meekest man on the face of the Earth -- is doubting himself more than he's actually doubting God's ability to deliver the Israelites from hundreds of years of Egyptian bondage. Yet we see the very same core lesson being played out in Moses' life, as we saw with Gideon and Jacob. That, of course, is that God should NOT have to speak more than once. Once should be enough. Neither should He have to perform a variety of powerful miracles in order to convince people to do His Will.

Yet as the previous Bible stories clearly illustrate, in His great patience and mercy, that is precisely what the Lord will sometimes do. He will look at our human weaknesses, our doubts, our fears and our pride, and He will say "Okay, if you need more proof that you are the person who I've chosen for this particular task, here you go. Now do you believe?" In other words, God patiently considers these things, and He is willing to go the extra mile with us. But please notice, however, that Moses' whining about not wanting the job still angered the Lord. Very interesting indeed! As we learned in part two:

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."


Before leaving behind the story of Moses, allow me to share with you a poem and song which I composed about him back in January of 2017. I hope you enjoy it. If you would like to listen to the actual song version, you can proceed to the following URL in a web browser of your choosing. You will find the song button located at the bottom of the poem on this same page:

https://www.billkochman.com/Poetry/old-man-moses.html

OLD MAN MOSES

by Bill Kochman

11-28-2017

Oh yes, that old man Moses,
We have all heard his tale,
How God gave him a mission,
He thought that he would fail.

When the Lord called to him,
From a bush that was on fire,
Sore afraid Moses answered,
Oh God, but I am not for hire!

I don't even know Your Name,
And I can hardly even speak,
Surely You are just mistaken,
About the one You really seek.

Those Israelites won't accept,
I am a messenger sent by God,
They'll think that I am crazy,
Or at least a rather bit odd.

Yet despite his reservations,
Moses did as he'd been shown,
It was obviously so pointless,
For him to just moan and groan.

So armed with a shepherd's staff,
And some miracles up his sleeve,
Dear Moses marched off to Egypt,
To find out who would believe.

As many Christians already know,
God did wonders in that land,
After Pharaoh had been humbled,
They were freed by His own hand.

As a final example of this rather important lesson regarding believing God's word the first time around and demonstrating faith and obedience through our actions, let us now consider the young Israelite Prophet Jeremiah. Referred to by certain Bible scholars as the "Weeping Prophet" due to what he wrote in the tragic Book of Lamentations and how he reacted to the great misery and despair which surrounded him at the time of the three Babylonian invasions and final conquest, Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry as a young lad indeed. In fact, as some of my readers will know, it was his very age which Jeremiah tried to use in order to avoid having to take heed to the Lord's calling for his life. Consider the following group of Bible verses as proof of this point:

"It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth."


What I find rather interesting is the fact that going by the previous verses alone, Jeremiah's period of protest against the Lord's calling on his life appears to have been rather short-lived compared to both Gideon and Moses. While those two men offered their list of personal inadequacies which in their minds they apparently viewed as surely being legitimate reasons -- or is "excuses" a better word? -- concerning why they were just not the right man for the job, and while they likewise required miraculous proof before they would believe, and while even Jacob tried to make a personal deal with God, young Jeremiah offered just one excuse. "I am too young, Lord. I can't speak."

In my view, it is almost comical the way in which the Lord chose to react to Jeremiah's brief protest. He didn't become angry as He had done with Moses. He simply touched Jeremiah's mouth and said "Okay, you are good Jeremiah. You have now got my words in your mouth, so let's go young man! You are hired whether you like it or not." That was apparently the end of the discussion, and young Jeremiah did as he was told.

As I amply discuss in a number of other Bill's Bible Basics articles, for the next forty years or so, the Prophet Jeremiah faithfully prophesied God's warnings of impending judgment through the reigns of several of the kings of Israel, right up until the very day that the Babylonian forces of King Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem and destroyed both the city and temple during the reign of King Zedekiah. These tragic events occurred in about the year 587 BC based on the Western calendar. You will find them discussed in other articles such as "Who Is Babylon the Great?".

There is one other interesting aspect concerning the Prophet Jeremiah's ministry which I would like to share with you, and that is the following. Unless Jeremiah simply didn't include in his book how much he had actually protested against God's calling in his life, is it possible that his limited protest was due to his age? In other words, even today, it is widely recognized that children and young people are considerably more malleable and open to new ideas up to a certain age than many older people who have already become quite set in their ways, and who for the most part are unchangeable insofar as their positions, views and beliefs are concerned.

So is it possible that this may be one reason why God had to work a little harder on Gideon and Moses in order to convince them of their individual callings? What do you think? You may be interested in reading the BBB article entitled "The Faith of a Little Child", which you will find listed at the end of this same series.

Before leaving the Prophet Jeremiah behind, allow me to share a poem and song which I wrote about him back in January of 2017. I hope you enjoy it. If you would like to listen to the actual song version, please proceed to the following URL in a web browser of your choosing. You will find the song button at the bottom of the poem on this same page:

https://www.billkochman.com/Poetry/prophet-jeremiah.html

PROPHET JEREMIAH

by Bill Kochman

01-09-2017

Once there was a Prophet named Jeremiah,
That boy loved his people so very deep,
But when that young lad began to prophesy,
They told him "Don't you dare make a peep!"

You see, Jeremiah was the Lord's true seer,
Not like false prophets politicians love,
So once that poor boy gave the Lord's Word,
The people's push soon turned into shove.

Those fools accused him of being a traitor,
"How unpatriotic!" they all cried out loud,
From there the situation only grew worse,
As angry murmurs spread throughout the crowd.

They were so happy with their false priests,
Thus they claimed Jer's words were not true,
Next, they shoved God's Prophet into prison,
Now what was dear Jeremiah supposed to do?

But the ire of nonbelievers was yet kindled,
The prison court simply would not suffice,
So full of rage they threw him in a mud pit,
By now poor Jeremiah wasn't feeling too nice.

But one eunuch believed in God's true Prophet,
Ebedmelech the Ethiopian was that man's name,
He approached the king and pleaded for mercy,
And thus thirty helpful men to Jeremiah came.

You may already know the end of this story,
Prophet Jeremiah was vindicated by the Lord,
About forty years after he began prophesying,
Nebuchadnezzar arrived with a terrible sword.

In summary, if we really want to please the Lord, then when He calls upon us to perform a particular task for Him -- no matter what that task may be -- instead of lacking in faith, heehawing around, trying to throw our lame excuses at Him, or whining to Him about why He has made a bad mistake, and chosen the wrong man for the job, we need to simply man up, accept the task He has assigned to us and simply say "Here am I; send me" as in the following verse:

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me."


In short, when the Lord speaks, once is enough, and should be enough, always. God should NOT be required to have to ask us more than one time. If He does, then there is something seriously wrong on our end. Neither should He have to resort to miraculous signs in order to convince us of His Will. For more information regarding this subject, please refer to BBB articles such as "What Is God's Will for My Life?", "Is God Using You to Your Full Potential?", and "Are You a Burning Ember for the Lord?", which you will find listed at the end of this same series with clickable/tappable links.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Abundant Life Doctrine: Scripturally Exposed!

AI, Chatbots, Daemons and Demons

Are You A Burning Ember for the Lord?

Is God Using You to Your Full Potential?

Money-Making Bible Hucksters and Mammon

Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

Seventy Weeks Prophecy: What It Means

Sex, a Bowl of Soup and the Nature of Angels

The 70th Week of Daniel Error: Are You Guilty?

The Battle Is Not Yours Alone!

The Faith of a Little Child

The Fruits of Disobedience

The Lord Will Lift You Up!

The Parable of the Sower: Salvation and Service

The Parable of the Tree and the Storm

What Is God's Will for My Life?

Who Is Babylon the Great?

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Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.