Bible reading for 40.Day 2026 | Jeremiah 29:5-6

How often do you think about yourself as a citizen? Or in the case of many of us, a Singaporean?

After having had the opportunity to live in a few different parts of the world, I can’t help but recognise just how blessed we are to have been born to this miracle nation.

I feel like I drew the citizenship lottery – what a privilege!

In Acts 17:26, Paul stands in the Athenian Areopagus and declares that God determined the time set for us and the place we should live.

Our inscrutably Sovereign God, He doesn’t do random, my friends! We were placed here, in this age, in our nation on purpose.

The privilege comes with responsibilities as well: To steward the beauty that we have inherited.

Now, if I were to ask you what kind of moral world we lived in, what would you say? A positive world, a neutral world or a negative world?

I think that those of us who have had the benefit of a few decades would have felt the change.

The ground is shifting. Common sense has become uncommon. Faith is mocked, moral lines are redrawn, and the public often celebrates what God doesn’t in so many important areas: Marriage, the sacredness of life for the young and the old, the specialness of our God-given bodies and identities, just to name a few.

I’m reminded of Judges 21:25 where everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

Yes, there are problems, but we have a purpose.

God intends for us to be the salve and solution for the challenges of our generation. To intercede in prayer and to love our neighbours, that His will be done here, for the good of all Singaporeans.

I think about the Jewish exiles who had some pretty big problems themselves, having been captured by the Babylonians. In Nehemiah’s day, they were allowed by a new empire, Persia, to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem almost 2,500 years ago.

The Scriptures tell us that one half of the men worked, while the other half stood guard with spears, shields and bows. Even the builders worked with one hand on the task and the other gripping a weapon because of the imminent threats they faced. (Nehemiah 4:16-17)

Nehemiah assigned families and groups to repair the sections of the wall that were directly opposite their own houses – why?

Because when a man is building the wall that protects his own wife and children, he does the best that he can.

Other groups rebuilt the 10 gates of Jerusalem that facilitated the daily life and functioning of the city.

We’re not that different, you know.

Regardless of where God has called you to work, you have a role in rebuilding with the trowel and guarding with the sword.

Whether your function is “protective”, to guard what is valuable and true, or “vocational” by building the gates of city life, you have a God-ordained purpose for this land.

Business shapes incentives. Education shapes minds. Media shapes imagination. Policy shapes norms. Family shapes formation. The church cannot withdraw from any of these. We must be involved in civic life.

Even before Nehemiah’s day, in the hardest, most contested and fractious of times, when Israel was enslaved by Babylon, the Word of the Lord was to engage, and not detach.

In Jeremiah 29:5-7, God instructs, “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, 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.”

We pray for Singapore. We work for Singapore. We love our neighbour in concrete ways. We must refuse compromise where God has spoken.

And our witness isn’t about rules and laws for their own sake. God’s ways are good precisely because they’re good for us, for all of us, believers and pre-believers alike! They are an antidote to the cultural decay of our time.

Beauty is attractive, and when our neighbour sees what flourishing looks like in our lives, the fragrance of Christ will do its work. When we shine for Christ, we point people to Him. Courageous Christians in a darkening and confused culture can show forth a better way. We have the answers. With Christ, we can turn Singapore Godward.

God has placed us here – together, for Singapore. Build what is good. Protect what is true. Give of yourself – sacrificially – for something bigger than yourself. And when we do that, the city will be better because we were in it.

Let’s pray together.

Lord, I thank You Lord for the privilege of being placed in this land.

We ask: Have mercy on us, Lord. We ask for Your grace to cover our nation and for Your Spirit to lead us. Help us to be a true Bride in this city, one who knows the rhythms of Your heart and the purposes of Your will.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect:

1. In the world today, what “norms” that go against God’s word are most disturbing to us? What can we do about them?

2. Is our life releasing the fragrance of Christ among those yet to know Him? Are we showing them a better way to live?

3. Have we compromised on the truth of God’s word because it’s inconvenient? How will we correct this?

Pray: 

1. That we will have the courage to rise up, to bring the presence and power of God into Singapore.

2. That we will engage and not shrink back from doing what’s right even when things are difficult.

3. That wherever we are placed in society, we will build what is good and protect what is true.

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