The Scripture passages are identified with bold upright font and the author’s notes are identified with italic regular font.

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; 17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. 18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. 20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. 22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Death or Life – A Choice

The willingness to walk in wisdom is a heart matter. It is a matter of choice. We either desire a life filled with life, godliness, and wisdom or we do not. If we do desire life, godliness, and wisdom then we embrace the knowledge of wisdom for it is through wisdom we shall make room for Jesus to bring about all three in our existence. (v.10)

Discretion in action in daily life will keep us from the snares of life, and keep us on the path of righteousness in Christ. Our intellect needs to be a part of that process as we use our mind to think and reflect upon choices and our spirit to discern the proper course of action. (v.11)

Wisdom, discretion, and godly understanding will help us discern evil people thus avoiding evil people and the actions that come with them. Evil man’s “forward” ways are filled with perversity and fraud, which is the meaning of the word “forward” in verse twelve. There are ways that man devises that are evil. They leave what God considers good (uprightness) and pursue what God considers evil (darkness). Godly people avoid such ways. (v.12-13)

Not only does evil man leave the paths of God and pursue evil, he enjoys the pursuit of evil. This can be difficult for godly people to believe, that people would actually enjoy doing evil, but they in fact do enjoy their evil deeds. Reasoning with someone consumed in their evil ways is almost impossible. (v.14)

There is no way someone like this can be trusted in any capacity. They are not honest and will use words to manipulate individuals. Being naively trusting is not being godly. We can love people, help people, respect people, and guide people while extending trust wisely. (v.15-16)

We may be dealing with an individual we knew when we, and they, were young, but they are now living an ungodly life. They may not be the same person you once knew. Their choices may have carried them far from the godly instruction that you know they once received as a youth. Wisdom makes the choice to pray for them, deal with them as they are now, and wait for God to bring them back into the fold. (v.17)

The ways of evil only lead to death. The houses of evil are filled with death and no place for a godly person. Evil brings death in all forms, literal, figurative, spiritual, mental, emotional, relational, physical, intellectually, etc. Evil leaves a trail of loss and heartache wherever it goes. The small pleasures evil “appears” to bring are only for a fleeting moment and then the bill comes in the form of some brand of death, loss, destruction, etc. Avoidance of evil is the best plan of action, as breaking free evil once it has you in its grip is extremely difficult. (v.18-20)

The wise godly person is able to stand firm in their life, dwelling safely in the land/life that God has provided for them. It is only “the perfect” individuals who can remain in this type of life. In the Hebrew language “the perfect” are those individuals who have by means of choice and practice developed “literal, figurative, and moral integrity” based on “truth and sincerity” those living an “upright” life before God – all of which requires daily choices, multiple choices, over and over and over again – choices that please God and are inline with His Word. (v.20-21)

The life of the wicked evil person on average is very short, unproductive, and unfruitful. It is not a life of quality and substance but instead a life of shallowness that never quite satisfy them. (v.22)

We can choose a real life, or we can choose a life of death, it is our choice. We need to choose well and allow God to grant us the wisdom to do so.

Throughout this study if you need the wisdom of God on a matter, and you wish to receive the counsel of another Believer in Christ, please use the “comments” link to send your question to me.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.