Page 64 give you supernatural guidance. However, He has given us no such promise. He leaves the decisions in these areas to our discernment. However, if He does lead you in some supernatural way on a non- moral issue–be it an inward prompting, a ,personal prophecy, or an outward sign such as a dream or vision–it should only be trusted if it is consistent with wisdom (sound judgment) and the moral will of God disclosed in Scripture. If God’s people would pay heed to the above principle, it would spare them from making many foolish decisions in life. It certainly would have spared Jack from missing out on two wonderful opportunities that the Lord brought his way. I’d like to mention one further point on this score. Even if you make a foolish decision . . . even if you make a mistake in judgment . . . even if you miss a golden opportunity due to an error in judgment, God’s sovereign will is so grand that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28). This is not an excuse to make foolish decisions deliberately. But it certainly does remove the pressure to always make the best decision. If we are yielded to Him, the Lord will forge wisdom within us on the anvil of our mistakes. This is the genius of our God. He has a way of making lemonade out of our lemons. So while I am trying to mitigate the pain and damage that foolish decisions reap, experience (even when brutal) is a very effective teacher. I will end this chapter by summarizing what we’ve learned by
Christian liberty [also] may legitimately manifest itself in abstinence or asceticism. Christian liberty includes the right to abstain from otherwise legitimate pursuits if one is convinced in his/her own mind that such is the will of God for them personally. In other words, you may fully believe in the truth of Rom. 14:14a, yet choose to abstain anyway. Christian liberty does not include the right to insist that others likewise abstain simply because you do. Far less does it include the right to judge them as sub-spiritual for choosing a different course of action from you.
Sam Storms