This is the thought that I closed last week’s sermon with. It is also the thought I choose to use as a springboard into this morning’s sermon.

Is your life one big game of trivial pursuit? Are you wandering aimlessly in life? Jumping from one thing to another. Running here and there, being distracted by the busyness of your life. I am asking, “Do you know God’s plan for your life?” Perhaps that is putting the cart before the horse. The questions I should ask is, “Do you believe that God has a plan for your life?

Do you believe this? Do you think it was easy for the Israelites to believe this? God spoke these words to the Israelites at a time when they were exiles in Babylon.

The prophet Hananiah, was telling the Israelites that within two years God would break the yoke of the Babylonian King Nebuchanezzar and that they would be delivered to freedom and return to Jerusalem.

At the same time the prophet Jeremiah brought a very different message to the Israelites. His message was that the Israelites would be in Babylon not for two years but seventy years. So they better move on with their lives. They should pray for the pagan nation that has enslaved them.

Given the choice if you were one of the Israelites, which prophet would you want to believe, Hananiah or Jeremiah?

Think about it. When you enter times of trouble or sudden change what do you pray for? Do you pray for quick relief or prolonged agony? Do you pray for what you want or for God’s will?

Obviously the Israelites found Hananiah’s message more to their liking, but as time revealed Hananiah’s message was not from God. All those who had placed their hopes and dreams in Hananiah’s words were disappointed when his prophecy proved false.

How tempting it is today to believe the false quick fixes and promises offered by society, instead of trusting God.

“I know the plans that I have for you,
declares the Lord,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”

God did not forget His people Israel, even though they were captive in Babylon for seventy years. He planned to give them a new beginning with a new purpose – to turn them into a new people. In times of trouble it may seem as though God has forgotten you. But God is preparing you for a new beginning with God at the center. God is the potter; you and I are the clay. Are we willing to let God mold us and make us after His way?

Nothing can compensate for not knowing God’s purpose, not success, wealth, fame or pleasure. Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purpose for your life. The greatest tragedy of life is NOT death. It is life without a purpose.

Life without a purpose results in a life of stress, fatigue, and conflict. Life without a purpose leaves us tired because we are trying to do too much.

Do you remember playing with a magnifying glass when you were a child? Remember discovering its power when you used it focus a ray of sunlight. God knows how many ants would have been saved if I hadn’t learned that I could concentrate the sunlight into an intense beam of light. How many lives are being lived without a purpose because our lives are more diffused light instead of magnified light. The result is that we lack peace because we lack purpose.

Do you want everything God wants for you? Then you need to do what the Israelites were told to do. God said,

Rick Warren points out that when it is all said and done, when we stand before the Lord the only thing that God will be concerned about is how you answer two questions.

Do you want everything God has for you? Yes, then make answering those questions the purpose of your life.