The The proper attitude for one who really holds the truth, and its blessed results, are set forth in the following verses:
When wisdom entereth into thine heart,
And knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Discretion shall preserve thee,
Understanding shall keep thee:
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man,
From the man that speaketh froward things;
Who leave the paths of uprightness,
To walk in the ways of darkness;
Who rejoice to do evil,
And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
Whose ways are crooked,
And they perverse in their paths.
Wisdom and knowledge entering into the heart and becoming pleasant to the soul, give that discretion which preserves from evil; and the understanding or discernment that keeps from false ways.
Two enemies are seen besetting the feet of the young man. Here it is the evil man; in the next few verses, the strange woman. The evil man is the man who walks in the pride of his heart and in independence of God. This, to the young, seems very attractive, appealing to the natural mind. But to follow the evil man is to “leave the path of righteousness and to walk in the ways of darkness.” The truth of God possessing the reins will deliver from this, keeping the recipient of it from self-willed ways of the evil one and pointing out his crooked and perverse path. But this is not the only enemy seeking to beguile the simple.