"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth I hate."
This is a very interesting section in the midst of how to make a good decision. It brings in a whole different set of parameters than the positive qualities of prudence, knowledge, and discretion. It means that you must live in the boundaries of the fear of the Lord. Where has God said “no”?
The Ten Commandments quickly come to mind. I would understand this reference to be that if a choice or action or decision will take you outside of the boundaries of the Ten Commandments, then it cannot be the wise choice because it would mean that you are no longer living in the fear of the Lord and no longer hating evil.
Also, Solomon adds that one must not even – within the boundaries of the Ten Commandments – develop a proud I-don't-need-anyone or I-can-make-it-on-my-own mentality. We must realize that we are interdependent.
God adds that wisdom will not take an evil way to accomplish a good purpose. The means to the end is as important as the end. It is not okay to resort to tactics of evil as a way of life – especially as a positive strategy to accomplish or find the right or wise decision. Sometimes it is the thought that I can accomplish a great good through the short-term pathway of bending the rules or the short-cut of going outside the boundaries of the Ten Commandments. If it is clear that a certain decision or pathway requires this, then it fails on two counts: the fear of the Lord and the evil way.
The next bit of negative way to find wisdom is that if you have to begin to speak in a twisted or perverted way in order to move down a certain road, then it can't be the wise thing to do. There will be paths and choices that look far better than others but demand a certain type of language or a lie to begin the journey. That path or choice cannot be wisdom.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz