Hear, my son, and receive my sayings,
And the years of your life will be many.
I have taught you in the way of wisdom;
I have led you in right paths.
When you walk, your steps will not be hindered,
And when you run, you will not stumble.
Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go;
Keep her, for she is your life.
Do not enter the path of the wicked,
And do not walk in the way of evil.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
Turn away from it and pass on.
For they do not sleep unless they have done evil;
And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the just is like the shining sun,
That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is like darkness;
They do not know what makes them stumble.
Proverbs 4:10-19 (NKJV).
Wisdom, to some extent, doesn't really change your future as much as it changes the probability of specific futures coming to pass. Being wise won't change many of the choices you'll face, but it will change how the outcome of those decisions plays out.
Humans don't live in a vacuum either, where the decisions we make affect only us, and we are the only ones privy to the details going into the choice that needs to be made. Our choices do have an impact on those around us, and those same people can often be witness to what prompted a choice, as well as the choice we've made through our actions.
Solomon tells us that the wicked both promote their own evil, as well as not understanding what it is that causes them to fail. Anecdotally we've all known people like this, who keep making the same mistakes, who keep nosing into other people's lives, and who complain endlessly about how unfair their life circumstances are. These people do not see the connection between their actions and the consequences, as if the two are not connected.
This is a big part of wisdom, that action and consequence be connected and visibly so. When one makes a choice, we need immediate feedback to help refine the decision making process for the next time a decision of that nature comes up. When we don't have that feedback, it becomes very difficult to say whether the choice was "good" or "bad" at all, and whether what followed was a result of the decision that was made or some other unseen decision made by someone else whose consequences we just happened to fall into.
This is why Solomon discusses the "path of the just" being a light, because if you can see the connections, if you are examining and inspecting, then there is a feedback loop wherein continuous good decisions reinforces the boldness and confidence in making further decisions, and this becomes apparent not just to you, but to those around you.
For better and for worse.
If one is accustomed to walking in darkness, what is the natural response when a light shows up, especially unexpectedly? We wince, we cover our eyes, we try to protect ourselves from the light. If this new light causes a convicting shadow to fall on your life, if the good decisions of others made by wisdom start to expose how poorly your own decisions are, the immediate response is almost never a positive one.
This is why the wicked cannot rest, and why they try to find comfort in not knowing why anything happens, nor having any of the connections between what they do and the result made known, because they wish to persist in their ignorance, to take the easy path which avoids growth and humility, to instead be consumed by anger and envy at the source of light, exposing their own darkness.
"Misery loves company" and "honesty is the best policy" are two phrases that help capture some of the feeling in this passage. Wise choices bring positive outcomes to those who adhere to them, and wicked choices bring negative outcomes to those who adhere to them, but again notice that the wicked to not make this connection, they do not understand that their wickedness is what besets them, and so they continue in it, believing that their redemption is just around the corner.
Things will be different "this time".
While the wise cannot insulate themselves from the wicked, they can make the best choices in how to deal with the circumstances they face, and that includes when their paths cross with the wicked. There will be a disparity, both in the choices made and the understanding of the downstream impact of those choices, but those are not a "bad thing", they're the natural consequence of wickedness or wisdom.
Pursue wisdom and understanding, reject the ignorance of wickedness.
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