Luke 18:9–14

But as we pray, we must also allow God to search us.

After teaching His disciples to pray and not lose heart, Jesus tells another parable. This time, He speaks “to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.”

Two men go up to the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee. He is serious, disciplined, religious, and outwardly respectable. He fasts. He gives. He avoids obvious sins. But his prayer reveals a heart that has become impressed with itself.

The Church cannot pray for national renewal with proud hearts.

The other is a tax collector. He does not stand tall. He has no achievements to list. He dares not compare himself with others. He simply cries, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Jesus says it is this man — not the Pharisee — who goes home justified before God.

This is a sobering word for us as the church during this Love Singapore 40 Days of Prayer. We are praying for our nation, our leaders, our families, our youths, and the spiritual destiny of Singapore. But as we pray, we must also allow God to search us.

It is possible to do many right things and yet stand before God with the wrong heart. It is possible to serve, fast, give, attend, lead, and pray — and unwittingly put our trust in our own spiritual record. It is possible to be faithful in duties, but not rightly postured before the Lord.

The Church cannot pray for national renewal with proud hearts. We cannot ask God to heal the land while refusing to be humbled ourselves. We cannot pray for mercy while looking down on those we think need mercy more than us.

The tax collector’s prayer is short, but it is deep: “God, have mercy on me.”

Perhaps this is where true intercession for Singapore begins. Not with confidence in our righteousness, but with confidence in God’s mercy.

May our fasting not make us proud. May our service not make us self-satisfied. May our prayers not become performance. This week, may we come low before God, and find again His mercy for us, for His Church, and for our Nation.