“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And find out knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, I have strength.
By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles,
All the judges of the earth.
I love those who love me,
And those who seek me diligently will find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,
And my revenue than choice silver.
I traverse the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.
Proverbs 8:12-21 (NKJV).
Hate showed back up again, and it's useful to be reminded of the full measure of God's capacity to feel. Much emphasis has been placed on trying to make God attractive to the unrepentant by exemplifying the attribute of "love", but in so doing, and in the dilution of mixing with other world religions, Christians have forgotten that God does things like hate, or feel jealous, and that salvation is not just "nice", but is a necessary step to get off the path that will experience the wrath of God against sin.
Humans aren't intrinsically evil, but manifest it in their rebellion against God, and as such, there is a tangible difference between the ignorant sinner and the outright wicked, those who understand that they are doing wrong and may go so far as to take delight in it.
Now, note that wisdom is trying to explain how the riches she affords are longer-lasting and more satisfying than what evil brings. This is not denying that evil behavior can net one a reward at all, but instead that the cost for that evil behavior needs to be fully accounted for when making decisions.
How many times have you yourself thought or heard someone say that they'd "have done things differently" if they understood some aspect of the decision process that they previously undertook?
Time and again people want to believe that, in the budget they imagine they'll have from their ill-gotten gains, they'll be more than enough to repair any damage they've caused, or that they'll find some way to resolve problems that will, overall, still have left them with a greater surplus of resources to then expend than if they'd having done things the correct way, through application of wisdom and understanding.
The fixation on "doing it my way" is a self-destructive one, yet it comes naturally to us. We want to be the ones that define terms, that can be held responsible, to have ourselves exalted and held high for what we have accomplished.
Paradoxically, when Jesus sought only to glorify God through his life, his sacrifices earned him the highest exaltation possible. Yet even without Christ as an example, the dynamic was readily apparent.
Make much of wisdom, and you will find greatness, because you are aligned with the nature and rules of this reality and the creator who oversees it.
Make little of wisdom, and you will find destruction, because you are aligned against the nature and rules of this reality and the creator who oversees it.
Some will only ever bend a knee because they've been forced, their arrogance and hubris so completely consumes them. At no point can they comprehend that they'd have all they desired, and even more, if they submitted their thoughts to the guidance of wisdom and understanding instead of relying on their own unrefined instincts.
This is why God hating those who do evil carries no condemning connotation, because it is not simple ignorance that God hates, but evil, wickedness, the intentional rejection of wisdom, of understanding, the entirely wasted life of a person in seeking only to exist as contrarian to God.
God hates that because even existence itself is a gift. None of us deserved it, earned it, can repay God even that, let alone cover the debts we incur through our sin. You can read the latter portions of Job to see how God reacts when Job starts declaring that Job should never have been born in the first place.
Wisdom benefits in perpetuity where evil does not. Make decisions and consider more than your immediate sensational response.
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