Wisdom’s Guidance
By Anthony Casperson
9-5-26

There are very few video games for which I play more than two full playthroughs. Even that much can be a major time commitment with the games I tend to play. But one that has been on my mind in recent weeks is Owlcat Games’s Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.

However, while I’ve been thinking about it, I have also been reminded how it is extremely difficult to get what is considered the best ending. Not only does it require careful attention on the part of the player to figure out what certain requirements are to achieve it, but they must either work surprisingly fast or nearly-kingdom-ruining-ly slow to reach one of the two week-long periods where it’s even possible to attain.

Beyond that, numerous choices lock the player out of being able to accomplish it. And the player must save particular pieces of ammunition for just the right enemies—one of which is hidden behind a mind-bending puzzle—in order to gather all of the pieces required for that best ending.

On my very first playthrough, I’d followed all of the clues, gathered all of the resources, and waited for the exact in-game calendar week, but because of one choice I’d made, I was locked out of it. And once realizing what that choice had meant, I as a player literally felt such a pain in my heart that I wanted to quit right there. Not for failing to accomplish the best ending, but because of what the truth of that single terrible choice meant.

But this difficulty for the best ending kinda models reality when it comes to possible outcomes in our lives. Just playing the game can lead to a range of endings, from good to okay. And a number can lead to bad or even the worst type of ending. But to achieve an ending worthy of greatness, it requires a number of factors to fall into place in an exact way.

And it almost feels like you need a walkthrough in order to know what those factors are, let alone how to achieve them. Yet this guide to the best ending in our spiritual lives is exactly what Solomon provides us in these lessons on wisdom found in the first nine chapters of Proverbs.

We’ve seen a number of aspects for wisdom along the way so far in the first seven chapters. For instance the guiding principle of the fear of Yahweh being the beginning of wisdom. Properly following his ways and words leads to a life of following his goodness.

Also, in the last blog, we saw a simple and naïve young man follow the playthrough to the bad ending. Letting Folly be the little reflection in your eye will only lead you to a terrible death as her prey. And so, we were told to not follow her home in the darkness of the night, because danger lay that way.

However, as we shift to chapter 8, we see Lady Wisdom herself showing how different she is from Folly when it comes to the simple and naïve.

In chapter 7, we’d seen that Folly wandered loudly from street to street putting on a show to draw attention to herself, in order to hopefully catch the eye of some simple man, so that they might be able to have a midnight tryst.

However, Lady Wisdom is different. Sure, she also can be found throughout the city. But she calls brightly from the most prominent places to teach and lead the simple. Verses 2-3 show her at the highest of the streets, the crossroads where there’s a lot of traffic, and at the gates of the city where business is often handled.

And her words aren’t to tempt the naïve to a rendezvous in the dark. Rather, she calls the young to draw near in the daytime. In verse 5 she invites the simple to learn shrewdness and cunning for good purposes. And the fools should come to understand the conviction of a true heart. Sense that’s grander than common, but is still available for any who draw near to her.

Lady Wisdom isn’t trying to trap prey to feed the grave, like Folly does. No, Wisdom’s words lead to a straight path and true justice. Look at verses 6-9 and see how many different ways she shows her words as providing justice and a straight path.

The just and right words come from her lips. Truth, not the abomination of wicked and unjust wrongdoing. Everything she says is righteous. She has nothing to do with the wandering and crooked path that alters definitions of what is supposedly good and right whenever the mood strikes. The path she calls us down is straight, even, and just in the eyes of those who seek practical insight.

In verses 10-21, we see Lady Wisdom speak of her value and worth. Her correction is better than silver. That practical insight of her leading is more precious than gold. The riches and honor of mighty leaders is with her. By her words, kings and leaders reigned with true justice. Princes and nobles also ruled with that righteousness.

And even more, she loves those who love her. Not because of what they can provide for her, but merely because they sought her with their whole heart and found her.

But there’s one more aspect in verse 13 that shows us her value. Remember how early on we’d seen that the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. Well, here in this verse, we catch greater insight into what that means.

The verse starts, “The fear of Yahweh is…” but where we’d expect the typical “the beginning of wisdom,” we instead witness the words, “hatred of evil.”

This tells us that hating evil is part of the beginning of wisdom. Now, this doesn’t mean labeling people evil, or hating them. It’s not even really about hating other people’s actions. Instead, it’s about taking a look inside and hating the evil tempting us to pull our eyes away from Lady Wisdom.

Having the proper respect for Yahweh, and the beginning of wisdom, is all about rejecting anything that tempts us away from the truth of God’s ways and words. Anything that claims to show us the “right” way, but disagrees with the foundational truth that God laid out from the beginning of his creation.

Lady Wisdom lists out an incomplete list of temptations. Pride that swells until there’s no room left for anything other than our self-proclaimed designs. Self-exaltation that removes care for anything but our own desires. Any path that leads to wicked outcomes. And twisting words of redefinitions that change whenever it suits our needs. These all are evil to hate.

We’re called to hate them because all of those things listed above dispute the foundational truth of our Creator. And Lady Wisdom should know, because before anything else existed God created this wisdom and truth. Verses 22-31 tell us as much.

Yahweh held wisdom in his hand at the very beginning of creation. Before the depths of the sea came to be, and before the heights of the mountains were shaped, Wisdom was there. Before the hills and the fields, before even the first speck of dust, Wisdom stood. Before the limits of heaven and the boundaries of the oceans and seas, Wisdom had watched with great amazement.

While God forged all of these things, Wisdom was beside him like a fellow craftsperson. She danced and laughed and rejoiced in the presence of Yahweh as he formed and shaped all things.

She was even there when God laid out the directives of humanity. So, of course, she knows what is good and right and just for humanity to do. She was there when the instructions were given. And God’s truth does not change from age to age. No matter what Folly’s lies claim.

Therefore, it is good for us to heed the words of Lady Wisdom. Verse 32 says that those who keep to her exacting path will find blessing from God. If we listen to her lessons, if we watch and wait for her daily, then Yahweh’s favor will rest upon us.

Whoever finds Wisdom, whoever follows the lessons and doesn’t make the multiple bad choices, will find the life of the best ending in this one life we each have. Because any who fail to follow Wisdom will fall to disaster. Those who hate the ways, corrections, righteousness, and truly unchanging justice will only find death. The best ending locked away because of failing to follow the one path to it.

So, the choice is up to us. Do we follow the lessons that have been provided over these weeks—and will end next week? Or do we refuse to listen, and turn our eyes away from Lady Wisdom toward the many bad endings of life?

If we do want to seek Wisdom, and properly fear Yahweh, then we must hate the evil actions calling for our attention. We must stop trying to shift or alter the definitions of righteousness that God laid out from the foundation of the world. Listen to Wisdom. She was there, unlike us. So she knows better than we do.

Let’s allow her to be our guide to the best possible ending.