Let's examine God's answer to our question. Our text gives us five life lessons, each of them crucial to our problem. Our text begins: "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord."

Here we learn lesson one: God has a plan for our lives. Over and again, Scripture declares that fact.

• James taught us: "You ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that'" (James 4:15; cf. Ephesians 6:6, Hebrews 13:21).
• The psalmist prayed, "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God" (Psalm 143:10).

Whatever your decision, question, or problem, know that God has a plan and an answer for you today.

Lesson two: God knows his plans for us, but we do not. "I know the plans I have for you," he says. But we do not. No one in the Bible gets a five-year plan.

• The Bible says, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going" (Hebrews 13:8).
• When Moses agreed to face Pharaoh, he didn't know there would be a Red Sea in his future.
• Joshua knew nothing about a flooded Jordan River or fortified Jericho when he agreed to lead the nation.
• When Daniel started the day in prayer, he didn't know he would end it in the lion's den.
• The fishermen who left their boats to follow Jesus didn't know they would lead the global Christian movement.
• When Paul followed the Macedonian call and baptized Lydia in Philippi, he didn't know he was bringing the gospel to the Western world.

Whatever your problem or decision today, know that you don't know the answer. Refuse to trust your human wisdom, education, or experience. Tell God that you don't know the right plan, and that you need his. Develop the reflex of praying first, always.

Lesson three: God's plan is for our best. His purpose is "to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future." Forty-three times by my count, God's word promises that God loves us. He so loved us that he gave his Son for us (John 3:16). He proved his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Nothing can separate us from his love (Romans 8:35-39). He longs to be gracious to us and rises to show us compassion (Isaiah 30:18).

He is a perfect Father, and he loves every one of his children perfectly and unconditionally. No matter where we've been or what we've done, he loves us. Even though the Jews' sins and rebellion have landed them in Babylon, he loved them. Even though our sins and failures have caused us guilt and him grief, he loves us. He has a plan to prosper and not harm us, to give us hope and a future. All of us.

Decide now that you will follow his plan, whatever it is, because it is best for you. And then you will know it.

Lesson four: his plan begins today. It is a flashlight in the dark, showing us enough to take the next step but no more. God has a plan for where and how they should live: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce" (v. 5). He has a plan for the families they should have: "Marry and have sons and daughters" (v. 6). He even has a plan for the country which has enslaved them: "Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper" (v. 7).

Even in Babylon, he had a plan for them for that day. They could not know his purpose for the future unless they were willing to obey his purpose in the present. I can't learn calculus until I learn arithmetic. I can't drive to Waco until I learn to operate a car. Lance Armstrong started with training wheels. As Oswald Chambers said, we must be of use to God where we are, because we certainly cannot be of use to him where we are not.

Are you in his will this morning? Is there unconfessed sin in your life? Are your dating relationships pure? Your internet use? Your late-night television habits? Your language, and finances, and taxes? We must be close to God today if we would hear his voice tomorrow.

Lesson five: God's plan is for his Kingdom. God blessed the Jews because they were his children, but also because they were a means to a larger end. He blessed Israel so he could use Israel to bless the world. He prospered them in Babylon so he could return them to Palestine and through their nation bring the Messiah for all peoples.

As prosperous as Babylon might be, it's still a foreign country. You and I still live on foreign soil. God's word calls us "aliens and strangers on earth" (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11). Our best day here cannot compare to our first day in Paradise. Every day we live, we must live for eternity. Our decision we make must be framed by the prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

When last did you make a decision based on what would most glorify God, bring people to serve him as their King, and build his Kingdom on earth? That was the last time you sought his plan in line with his purpose.