Wisdom: Between the Lines

By Robert L. DeVall

This book is designed to take the reader into an inspirational journey of the Scriptures in profoundly personal conversations with His Spirit illuminating the Word. Godly wisdom gives insight so that the reader may receive an understanding as the central point of dialoguing with God while seeking His wisdom in prayer.

This book is about s

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Dec 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637697818

Robert L. DeVall

After thirty-four years of teaching and coaching in public high schools, Bob retired but continued to teach and counsel the homeless men living at the New Orleans Mission and a transitional retreat and recovery center. Little did he know at the time, this would become the preparation, the foundation of how to have a quiet time through Psalms and Proverbs and of the teaching on wisdom in this book.

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In Dedication

This book is dedicated to my heavenly Father, who, with incredible patience, faithfully encouraged me as He guided my thoughts in this new endeavor. My desire was to dig deep into His inspiring hidden treasures of holy Scriptures and discover priceless nuggets of God’s wisdom and their applications in our lives on a daily basis. How grateful I am to my Father for taking me with Him on this challenging journey!

To God be the praise and honor and glory:

Lord, let the words that I speak be the air I breathe; the thoughts that I think and the life that I live be all for You. Oh, that You would bless me and bless me indeed (that I might serve You all the days of my life) (1 Chronicles 4:10).

My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand, the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2:1-6 (NKJV)

Also in dedication, to the application of writing this book, I devote the reading and all of its meaning first to my wife, Charlotte, and then to all of those who will find Wisdom – Between the Lines.

With Great Appreciation

Thank you, Lord, for the pleasure of serving You through all the men who passed through a New Orleans homeless shelter/mission and recovery retreat, December 2012–October 2018. May God richly bless the men I served and kept in prayer—all that was done for the glory of God and His everlasting kingdom.

A great big thanks to my son-in-law, Travis McCoy, for his fine technical skills and practical knowledge in completing the finishing touches of this book.

Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out, [make plain] a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.

Proverbs 4:25-27 (NLT), hereinafter, brackets mine

(Above all, use My wisdom to guide you along the way. Don’t get distracted by your own ideas or by human schemes. Be wise in guarding your heart, guarding your eyes as the windows of your soul.)

There is a ninety-eight-year-old lady by the time this book is published, whose belief is strong in the faith of Jesus Christ, her Savior. Some of her friends know her as Junie Bug. Her grandkids and her great-grandkids named her Gi Gi, and I call her Mom. I would like to give her a very special thanks for the inspiration and encouragement she has given me in writing this book, which she calls the basics of God’s wisdom: It is the insight of wisdom that makes our walk easier, our path clear, our step lighter, our peace greater, our smile brighter. Such a priceless jewel! It’s worth the cost. Thanks, Mom.

Table of Contents

Synopsis - ix

FOCUS - 1

Introduction - 7

Each Step - 9

My Spiritual Journey –

For The Reason Why - 13

The Vision - 29

Finding The Wisdom Of God - 35

Wisdom Of Spiritual Maturity - 49

*Wisdom Is: Fear Of The Lord Is

The Beginning Of Wisdom. - 55

*Wisdom Is: The Application Of Knowledge; - 65

*To Discern With Clarity - 69

*…And With Belief; - 73

The Cause And Effect Of Sin - 79

Free Will - 89

Praying The Will Of God - 95

Pathways Of Wisdom - 101

The Question Why - 109

*To Discern With Insight - 115

*…And With Trust; - 123

Hidden Treasures - 129

God’s Paradox In Us - 137

Trusting In Praying - 149

*To Gain An Understanding; - 155

*To Walk By Faith In Obedience

To The Word Of God; - 169

Jesus, The Wisdom Of God - 187

What About Job? - 199

A. Things to Come - 202

B. Words of Knowledge - 205

C. Wisdom of His Faithfulness - 211

D. Job’s Wife - 213

E. Transitional Friends - 216

F. Mourning Rites - 219

G. Interceding in Faith - 222

H. Then and Now - 226

Handfuls Of Purpose - 233

Living Between The Lines - 241

Final Words On Job - 249

God’s Will Is Supreme - 253

*…Is Godly Wisdom. - 259

Afterthought/Afterword - 267

About The Author - 272

*Definition of Wisdom

(Chapters in Bold Print)

Synopsis

This book is about seeking God’s wisdom, how to gain an understanding, and how to apply it in our lives. The pursuit of finding true wisdom begins and remains with the omniscient God, who is the source of all wisdom, the One who delights in sharing His truth with us. We begin our search by seeking God’s wisdom by asking for it. Through our perception, we gain an understanding of how to apply His wisdom to our lives. When we truly seek Him with all our heart, He promises us, so we are assured of His blessings. Only then do the prayers of His children become the key to finding the hidden treasures of God’s wisdom.

Through speaking and listening to the Father in priceless conversations with His Holy Spirit, His wisdom gives insight to the reader to receive understanding as the central point of prayer. As a child grows in understanding and insight, able to apply discernment and act according to the Father’s will, this relationship between the Father and the child begins the journey on the pathway of wisdom. The Bible does not offer a magic formula for finding His wisdom, but it does give road signs for each of our unique journeys.

It is a journey of patience and self-discipline that seems to take a lifetime for seedlings to mature. It requires a sacrifice of putting aside the busyness of daily affairs and the silencing of other voices for quality time alone with God. Then our direction becomes clearer as our relationship develops a more intimate inner perception of listening, ensuring a hearing ear of His pure message of wisdom that’s tucked away between the lines of Scripture.

FOCUS

Wisdom – Between the Lines implies the reason why the book is written: to perceive the wisdom found between the lines of Scripture and apply the understanding to your life through your personal encounter with God in prayer. It is an inspirational book of hope and assurance for those who sincerely desire to experience God’s wisdom in their lives. Its reflections affect the focus of its intended purpose. The purpose is to realize the meaning behind the definition of wisdom through biblical scriptures and actual experiences in applications of ongoing personal conversations with God.

Although the book renders a good definition of godly wisdom, the emphasis implies what the reader receives between the lines. What God has given the reader in one-on-one perceptions from being in His presence finds His wisdom in a continually developing relationship.

The writing of this book is perceived from ongoing conversations with the Holy Spirit and is inspired by an in-depth prayer dialog. A combination of prose and poetic forms are developed while speaking and listening in His presence. The focus is how His wisdom applies as it is received through understanding and, in turn, gives insight into its application to life.

The book may seem to follow a pattern in defining godly wisdom but is not intended to be a theological study, nor is it an exegetical exercise as one would research a dissertation on wisdom. It is designed to take the reader into an inspirational journey of the Scriptures in profoundly personal conversations with His Spirit illuminating the Word. Godly wisdom gives insight so that the reader may receive an understanding as the central point of dialoguing with God while seeking His wisdom in prayer.

To aid in these conversations, the use of various emphases guides the reader on pathways perceiving godly wisdom along the way. These emphases are as follows: underlying, italics or italics, bold print, Capitalization or all CAPS, paraphrasing, and (parentheses). The use of various types of quotation marks: they are used, for the most part, in quoting Scripture and for dialoguing conversations between the Author and now the reader of the Book. Also, quotations are used when the Lord is speaking out of the context of Scripture to the Author and now to the reader when it applies. They may also indicate a title of a poem or a work of prose in poetic form. Single quotation marks are used within a double quote, a quote within a quote for specific notation. The use of first and second-person pronouns placed in Scripture and conversations with God further enhances the personalization of placing the reader into the scriptures or the conversations with His Holy Spirit while in prayer.

These conversations emphasized with italics and with Bold Print are for direct conversations with God and with Scripture, especially when God is speaking in His divine nature and character. Showing possession or referencing to God enhances a two-way conversation, which is carried out in prayer and meditation with God. The use of these personal conversations, along with their meaning, by the Author, is not intended to change the description of the message portrayed. The emphasis of inspiration for personal understanding and communication in the dialog is for you, the reader, talking directly with God and God talking directly with you!

All scriptures are italicized whether they are direct or indirect quotes or inspired from Scripture. The meaning of the scriptural message does not change but is directed to the reader from God the Holy Spirit. Other statements made for greater emphasis may also be italicized for importance. Dialogues, conversations in prayer and poetry, when God is speaking in any form of the Trinity, are in italics and used when God is speaking from Scripture. The message received from the emphasis refers to the unique understanding of what God is saying to the reader in His wisdom. Then the reader may discover what is behind the black ink on the white paper between the lines.

Dialoging with God is divided into three parts of actual conversation. These are two-way conversations that are free-flowing, natural, and in-depth prayer with God.

Personal communication with God shows a relationship just like you would have with a close friend you highly respect. You make statements to God and ask Him questions while God listens to you. Then, God may make statements and ask you questions while you listen to Him. All conversations are either based on Scripture or are related or refer to Scripture in personal relation to the Lord.

This is:

1. A Relational Conversation: you are reverently and personally speaking to God and listening to what God may say in return. There may be questions He asks you, or He may give you answers as keys to finding His wisdom, especially in developing your devotional prayer time with the Lord.

2. Referencing the Conversation: what you have read and learned from Scripture and what you have been taught by others while listening to His wisdom. This brings an expression to you by what His Holy Spirit is showing you to be the truth of His Word. That which you now believe, concerning His Word and His relationship, is now ever-present with you. When you reference these scriptures in a personal way, what God is saying to you between the black ink on the white paper becomes internally real in your spirit.

3. Reflections from the Conversations: from what you have received in understanding the Scriptures, the meaning of the Word of God is the insight into what God has given you. It is what lies between the black ink on the white paper, what is perceived from the understanding of God’s Word.

This three-part process is not separate but builds in unison while you are praying with the Lord all at the same time. It is recognized in a willing act of self-discipline, which is applied as a valuable understanding in developing an intimate relationship with God. This way of praying is how I talk to God and how He talks with me. He most certainly wants to have conversations in prayer with you!

My intention is to give to each person seeking godly wisdom a good opportunity to personalize this book. The personal application is for everyday life over and over again. My hope is that this is written from my heart to the heart of each and every reader, inspiring them to receive wisdom from God in prayer with Him and apply it to your life…

From a Personal Point of View

This is the kind of relationship I want with God. Has a real dialog with the Lord developed a listening ear? In the times I receive wisdom from God, my greatest endeavor is to listen for His voice inside my heart. As He speaks to me with His counsel in conversations of prayer, I receive insight with understanding. This is needed to walk by faith in obedience through prayer and the teaching of the Word. Now, it is up to me to make applications from His wisdom by living out His Word. What He has given me, I give to you. "Yes, Lord, I will do whatever You ask. Not my will, but Your will for me to be done."

These are the results I strived for in what God has given me in my quiet time alone with Him each morning for the past seven years in preparation for writing this book. My quiet time had developed into a readiness of intercessory prayer while scheduling counseling sessions with individuals and collectively teaching groups of men in a discipleship program. While doing this, I intervened in their lives through this ministry, which I served through the Christian outreach of a homeless shelter. Early on in this discipleship ministry, the Lord said to me, "If you will listen to these men in your counseling with them, I will speak through them in what they say to you and give you what they need."

On the premise How to Have a Quiet Time through Psalms and Proverbs and by teaching wisdom through this premise over a period of six of these seven years is how this book developed.

What the Lord gave me each morning, through "prayer and supplication with thanksgiving," I made my request known to God (Philippians 4:6). I gave to those I counseled through the power of the Holy Spirit by listening to what the Spirit told me they needed. Each person was uniquely different, and what the Spirit would say through them was spoken in love and truth but never spoken in a legalistic or judgmental pat answer. Legalized sounding or authoritarian counseling in correcting tones with the use of Scripture was never used to find fault with the men I served. The working of the Holy Spirit counseled through the caring for them in loving-kindness, giving them tools to redirect their lives on a pattern pleasing to the Lord. Each man continued to have free will to turn their lives around in the way that they should go according to His will.

Psalm 34:8-9 (NKJV) is an expression of God’s intent in what He wants to have with man as a relationship with humanity as living beings: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, Fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him." His original intent was to communicate with living beings of His creation, visualizing Adam and Eve walking together with God, experiencing His beauty in their surroundings and in spiritual harmony with God.

Through God’s creation, man would give glory to God in return. King David divinely expresses the glory of the Lord in creation in what he perceives himself to be as an undeniable part of the creation of man:

When I consider Your Heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor […] O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:3-5, 9 (NKJV)

My prayer for you is that you will also perceive and express the glory of God, that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding (Colossians 1:9, NKJV).

Introduction

Every Christian has a belief about God, who He is, what He does, and what He means to each of us. Through prayer and meditation of Scripture with the Holy Spirit, God’s truth is revealed. Your heart is strengthened, and your walk of faith is sure and steady. Whether your journey of life takes you down into the valley of despair or up onto sun-kissed mountain pathways, your goal is resolute, and your spirit is confident. Growing and maturing is a given; feasting on the Word of God is a daily pursuit.

True wisdom is a priceless jewel found along the journey of life with its facets that radiate much more than a clear understanding of knowledge to apply to the circumstances or responsibilities of life. It is the heartbeat of life itself. On pathways of faith, such a desirable gem must be possessed (Proverbs 3:13-26).

The pursuit of finding true wisdom begins with and remains with the omniscient God, who is the source of all wisdom, the One who delights in sharing His truth with us. Because He is gracious in giving, we begin our search by seeking Him with all our heart; we are assured of finding His blessings (Jeremiah 29:13).

Just as no one can put a square peg in a round hole, no one can become a child of God until they have believed in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. When God becomes their heavenly Father by believing in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of their sins, that person has the special privilege of seeking the precious treasure God has for them. Only then do the prayers of His child become the key to finding the jewel of God’s wisdom. In the quiet time of conversations alone with God, He will reveal His wisdom.

It is through speaking and listening to God’s Holy Spirit that His child grows in understanding, insight, and discernment and is able to act upon their Father’s will. This (1) Relationship between the Father and His child begins the journey on the pathways of wisdom.

It is not a quick inquiry but rather a journey of patience and self-discipline, which seems to take a lifetime for seedlings to mature. Seeking His wisdom requires you to bury the business of daily affairs for quality time alone with God in personal conversations in prayer, which will require a consistent (2) Referencing of silencing the sound of other voices; to ensure your hearing and listening to His pure message of wisdom that’s tucked away in Scripture. You will have gained clarity and insight from gaining an understanding. Then (3) Reflections upon what God has revealed from between the lines of wisdom, you will be able to walk by faith in obedience to the Word of God. What is perceived from between the black ink on the white paper yields the application of God’s Word. This is applying godly wisdom into your life.

Imagine if you were a grain of wheat, able to travel the spans of time. What would you see, what would you hear, what would you perceive, and would you be firmly planted in wisdom, knowing the mind of God? If it were so, you, the grain of wheat, could you go all the way back to the beginning of time and forward again to its end? And if eternity expands in never-ending motion blown by the winds from everlasting to everlasting, would your spirit be able to contain the mind of God in all His wisdom? For, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10, NKJV).

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2, NIV).

All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being […]. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp [nor has suppressed] it.

John 1:3-5 (NASB)

From the dawning of creation, by the power of His Word, God began to speak into existence all of creation that was and has existed ever since the world began and is today. "…and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2, NKJV). The Spirit breathed at the very thought of God’s great caring attention. He, God, brooded over the face of the deep, looking thoughtfully over an empty void of darkness for a long while; this nothingness was about to come forth. From the Spirit-breath of God, He breathed life into all physical organisms. From His breadth, He breathed His presence on what was to become the face of the earth.

Each Step

I raise my voice in praise and raise my hands to You and proclaim, Lord, You have directed my steps and have laid them out for me to take. Where they have led, You know full well. You know where they will lead each day of my life yet to come.

Reflecting on my life, You whispered into my soul, I have seen and have heard all of your ways and every detail of your life. In every place you have gone, everything you have done, and every word that you have spoken; even every thought I know you have thought, I have been there with you.

When you have done it all in My name, I have delighted in you. It has glorified Me. Though you have stumbled, you will not fall, for I am with you and will hold you by My Hand. (see Psalm 37:24).

I responded to say, "I long to be close to You, Lord, and still, there continues a struggle between the path of Your choosing and the needs I have in life. They forever seem to unfold. Even now, after retirement, the struggles of pursuing these needs seem fruitless by comparison to a blessing of honor and praise to You.

"Blessings and honor I give You, to the highest acclaim bringing glory to Your name. With all of who I am, with every ounce of my being, I give you praise. Never will I forget what You have done for me through all these years, blessings You have returned in my favor with loving-kindness, which poured out on me from the time I became Yours years ago. I can’t thank You enough for saving my soul and watching over me.

You have kept me safe from going down a path away from Your presence and led me away from those going in the wrong direction. It is Your great love for me that anoints my head with Your tender mercies. Only You, God, can give me Your grace I do not deserve. You fill my mouth with good pleasures of unending taste, so many good things from your banqueting table of life—all these wonderful things You have provided for me. I am amazed at how You have restored my strength; like an eagle, I am soaring in flight on the wings of the wind (see Psalm 103:1-5).

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was able to perform. And therefore, ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness.’

Romans 4:20-22 (NKJV)

My Spiritual Journey –

For The Reason Why

For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known (1 Corinthians 13:12, NKJV).

Have you ever set out on a journey and had a destination but never planned a trip on how to get there? I truly believe God has spoken to me, Write this book on God’s wisdom. It is a part of the destination on my journey, a huge task I have never attempted in my own ability, but with God’s help, all things are possible.

On the first day of January 2018, without knowing what was going to take place in my quiet time with God, I was reading Matthew 19:23-30 ("with God all things are possible") and sensed in my spirit God wanted me to do something that would change my perspective on how I lived and how I spoke to Him. He wanted me to personalize all Scripture that I spoke with Him,