Voice: Shivdas
Today is Thursday, 22nd of January. Whatever you are planning to do today, take a moment to commit your plans to the Lord.
We pray:
Blessed are you, sovereign God,
creator of heaven and earth,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
As your living Word, eternal in heaven,
assumed the frailty of our mortal flesh,
may the light of your love be born in us
to fill our hearts with joy as we sing:
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
Psalm 113
Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore!
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised!
4 The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
who is seated on high,
6 who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as It was in the beginning, is
now, and shall be forever. Amen.
Genesis 9
1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6“Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.
7And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
There is a reckoning
This is a déjà vu moment. Creation is happening again.
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”
Humanity is once more given dominion over creation.
We hear unmistakable echoes of the first creation. Yet this is not a return to Eden. This second creation is marked by the Fall. Edenic innocence is not restored.
In Eden, humans and animals coexisted without fear. Creation was ordered in harmony. After the Fall, and now after the Flood, creation is marked by enmity. Dominion remains, but it is now characterised by distance, fear, and threat.
This is not celebrated; it is conceded.
Human authority endures, but relational harmony is lost.
Another striking development is the permission to eat meat:
“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you…”
This is new. Before the Flood, humanity’s diet was plant-based (see Genesis 1:29).
The “very good” world of Eden has long passed. This is now a harsher world, where death is unavoidable. Life continues not in innocence, but by divine accommodation and concession.
Yet something remains sacred.
Human beings are still made in the image of God. If human blood is shed, God declares that there will be a reckoning. Life is not disposable. It belongs to God.
This is a foundational truth of human existence: every human life is sacred.
Because of this, murder is judged. The taking of innocent human life — whether through violence, despair, or abandonment — stands in tension with the moral order God has established. Laws may be changed and permissions redefined, but they cannot finally erase the creational boundaries God has set.
Still, humanity rebels.
Some imagine themselves as gods, believing they can reorder reality itself. Using science, culture, or power, they seek to construct a new moral world without reference to the Creator — redefining life, identity, and relationships according to human will rather than divine wisdom.
Yet such efforts are ultimately futile. As the risen Christ says to Saul:
“It is hard for you to kick against the goads”
(Acts 26:14)
If an ox kicks back against the goad, it does not injure the farmer — it wounds itself. Resistance to truth does not overthrow reality; it damages the one who resists.
So we pause to pray for the world.
No society is so far gone that God’s grace cannot still work. Even now, we see moments of resistance, self-realisation, and awakening as communities begin to experience the consequences of crossing moral boundaries.
What we have received is not oppression, but inheritance:
a natural order, a moral order, and a social order shaped by God’s wisdom.
To honour these is not to retreat into the past, but to live wisely in a fallen world — awaiting the day when creation will be renewed once more, not by human ambition, but by God himself.
We end with the Prayer of St. Jerome, (342-420):
O good shepherd, seek me out, and bring me home to your fold again.
Deal favorably with me according to thy good pleasure,
till I may dwell in your house all the days of my life,
and praise you forever and ever with them that are there. Amen.
In times of discouragement, be blessed by the simple message of this song, Bambelela by Marty Haugen.
Turn My Heart ℗ 2003 GIA Publications, Inc. Artist: Marty Haugen
Link to today’s Morning Office
About This Daily Devotion
This weekday devotion is drawn from the Morning Office and is part of a project initiated by Revd Canon Terry Wong, with contributions from clergy and members across various parishes. Each entry includes selected readings from the appointed Psalm and another Scripture passage, accompanied by a reflection and prayer. An audio option is also available, often ending with a hymn or song. We encourage you to both read and listen.
Our aim is to help Anglicans engage more deeply with our rich liturgical tradition, while meeting the devotional needs of today’s believers. This project began on Ash Wednesday 2025 and is offered on weekdays only.
For feedback, please write to us at info@mpcc.org.sg
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