Revive Our Hearts

Dana Gresh: Revive Our Hearts is brought to you in part by members of our Revive Partner team. Many of them have been compelled to partner with us because they've been deeply impacted by the ministry. In fact, we love hearing their stories, stories like a Revive Partner named Sami.

Sami: I have been a Revive Our Hearts monthly supporter for about three years but have been listening to Revive Our Hearts since 2006. About 20 years ago, I was in a pit of a physical, emotional, and verbally abusive relationship. It was very hurtful and traumatized me. I was also full of shame for my past.

When I turned on my radio one morning driving to work and listened to Nancy's voice on my Christian radio station, I just started bawling my eyes out. The Lord's truth through Nancy's work, the word of truth through her mouth and through the air of the radio, completely encouraged me. It built me up and changed my perspective on how I looked at myself.

Slowly, I found hope in the Lord. Through prayers and the encouragement from her podcast every single day as I drive to work, I can stand in confidence again. Everything is made beautiful and new in God's eyes. I am very thankful for Revive Our Hearts.

One of the reasons I want to continue to support is because I believe women out there may have similar problems and struggles as mine. I hope that they can be encouraged and know that they are not alone. It has been such a privilege to know this ministry and such a blessing.

Dana Gresh: You have been a blessing to us too, Sami. Thank you so much for sharing your story. Praise God for the way He's used this ministry in your life.

We have a special invitation for Sami and all our Revive Partners. We're hosting an online appreciation event for you tomorrow night at 7:30 Eastern time. It is going to be a sweet time. We're going to celebrate all God has done through your ongoing support. We know we couldn't do this ministry without you.

I'm really excited to have you join us. I'll be there, and I'm going to be joined by my dear friend Mary Kassian and some other Revive Our Hearts staff members. We've got some great stuff planned for you. If you're not a member of the Partner family yet, but you'd like to learn more about joining, you can visit reviveourhearts.com/partner. We would love to have you become a part of that team.

Does it seem sometimes like followers of Jesus are singled out for ridicule? Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth explains why some people give believers a hard time.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Ultimately, their issue is not with us, it's with God. When the nations rage, it's against Christ. They despise His rule and they're determined to throw it off. That's why the nations rage.

Dana Gresh: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, co-author of You Can Trust God to Write Your Story for June 15, 2026. I'm Dana Gresh.

Does it ever seem to you like the enemies of the Gospel have so much strength that they've become invincible? Nancy will give you some perspective continuing in the series, A Mighty Fortress is our God.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I'm being so blessed by the time we're spending to carefully, prayerfully, and slowly work our way through Psalm 46. I've been familiar with this psalm for many, many years. Isn't it sweet how rich the Word is to you when you stop and meditate on it, ponder it, and take time to soak in it?

We do things too fast today. We move too quickly, we read fast, and we live on the surface of things. But I'm watching in your eyes as this Scripture is penetrating deep, seeping down into the crevices of our hearts and making a difference.

Let me read beginning at verse one of Psalm 46. Today we're going to focus on verse six. Verse one says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns."

Then we come to verse six. It's interesting in this psalm how you have the back and forth of those two realities we talked about earlier: God and trouble. God's presence is that gently flowing river that makes the city glad, and then you have these torrential storms that are the enemy. You have the contrast between God and His enemies and God and trouble throughout this psalm.

We just read this great verse about the river making the city glad and God being in the midst of her. These are all things you want to put on framed pieces around your house. Then you get to verse six and it's the other side of it again: "The nations rage, the kingdoms totter." Nobody wants that on a designed piece in their house.

Your house might sound like that, though. You don't see who God is in all His life-giving joy—the river that He is and the refuge, strength, and help that He is—until you have experienced something of what verse six is talking about: the nations raging and the kingdoms tottering. "He utters His voice, the earth melts."

In the early part of the psalm, we saw this upheaval in the natural realm, this picture of the surging waters and the mountains being hurled into the sea. Sometimes these things happen literally—natural disasters we call them—but it can also picture commotion in general, turbulence in the world among the nations.

We've seen astounding images of tornadoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis recently. But we also see things that aren't quite as easy to picture, but it's the same idea: people in turbulence, people without jobs, people with health issues, people with prodigal children, people with marriages on the rocks, people with depression. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. You have this emotion here in verse six of confusion and fear.

We've already talked about fear in this psalm. Verse two says, "We will not fear though the earth gives way." But now you have this picture of terror. The kingdoms rage, the nations rage, the kingdoms totter. You have this sense of everything being topsy-turvy and in utter turmoil and confusion. We are terrified.

The word "rage" is the same word that was used in verse three to talk about the waters roaring. It means to make a loud sound, to be in great commotion or tumult, to be clamorous. Some translations say the nations are terrified or the nations are in an uproar. The concept is that the nations roar in fear or dismay.

This is very unsettling. There's nothing stable about what you're reading here. You see a similar phrase: "the kingdoms totter." When you think about that word "totter," go back earlier in the passage where it talks about the mountains being moved into the heart of the sea. It is the same Hebrew word. It means to slip, shake, or fall.

We don't think of kingdoms or mountains as shaking generally or tottering. We think of them as something secure. But the writer is saying there are seasons of extraordinary commotion and turbulence in our world, times when it seems that the things that were most secure all of a sudden are all up for grabs.

We see a lot of that in our world today. People's hearts fail them because of fear. You hear about people taking their lives, being stressed out, and living medicated and frustrated because the whole world seems to be out of order and off course. Then you have the earth melting. That word means to fear or faint. It's a sense of all the inhabitants of the earth being in terror and fear.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, and the earth melts. It always comes back to God—God's ways, God's works, what He is about, what He is accomplishing, and His part in all of this. The problem is that we calculate without God. We watch the news or receive letters that give us earth-shattering news and we figure without God.

Your husband says he's leaving, or your child says he's pursuing a deviant sexual lifestyle, and your whole world is shaken. That's understandable from a human standpoint. But we've got to come back to figuring God into the equation. Even in this nation-raging, kingdom-tottering, earth-melting verse, God is there. He utters His voice. He is speaking, and the earth is melting.

I keep going back to Matthew Henry's commentary on Psalm 46. It is such a great old-time commentary. His line here is: "He, that is God, checks the rage and breaks the power of the nations that oppose Him and His interests in the world." God is still in control. God is having His way even in the whirlwind and the storm.

In this verse, you see two aspects of God's judgment, and both of them have played out through the course of history, are playing out today, and will play out in even greater ways as we come to the end of the age. The first aspect of God's judgment is that the rebellion and the evil of this world puts it on a course that results in instability and insecurity.

Even if God were never directly to intervene in judgment, there is the judgment of God leaving the world to its own devices. He lets its raging go on for a period of time. Its raging ultimately is against Him. Then He lets the course of things take place, which is that the kingdoms totter. They are insecure and unstable.

This is one expression of the judgment of God. He just leaves them, as in Romans 1, He leaves them to themselves to let sin take its course. Then there's this other aspect of God's judgment, which is His direct intervention in bringing judgment on this prodigal world. God spoke the world into being by His word.

He upholds the universe by the word of His power, as Hebrews 1 tells us. One day God will bring final, cataclysmic judgment and dissolve the world as we know it. How? By the power of His word. We see the authority and the power of God's voice. If you question that, read Psalm 29.

"The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The voice of the Lord strips the forest bare and in His temple all cry glory. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever."

God's judgments are meted out in the course of history and then in the ultimate way that it will be meted out against this prodigal planet. In God's judgments, He is glorified. He is seen to be holy and powerful and a God not to be trifled with. Even in the midst of judgment, in His temple all cry glory.

It's not that we gloat in judgment or take glee in it, but we say, "God, You are glorified even in Your judgments." The default of unbelievers and of nations is to rant and rage against God's kingdom, to oppose His sovereign rule, and to conspire against God's people. That's the way the world is hardwired ever since Genesis 3.

There's a drive that we have individually and that every unregenerate heart has, and that the nations have, and that is a drive to be sovereign. In order to be sovereign, you have to push God off His throne. The nations raged against Israel in the Old Testament. God's chosen people were raged against by the nations.

They still are today. God pity the nation that rages against Israel. If you want to see that, go and read the Old Testament prophets and see what happens to the nations who forsake Israel. The unbelieving world today rages against the followers of Christ, against His saints.

You can talk about God or talk about religion, but don't talk about Christ. Don't talk about Him being Lord. It was true in the Roman Empire when they said Jesus is Lord—Off with your head. Into the arena with the hungry lions. Today you talk about Jesus is Lord and you live it out like you believe it, you're going to experience consequences.

The world is conspiring against God. Ultimately, their issue is not with us; it's with God. When the nations rage, it's against Christ. They despise His rule and they're determined to throw it off. That's why the nations rage. Psalm 2 is quoted numerous times in the New Testament.

"Why do the nations conspire? Why do they rage? And the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His anointed one. 'Let us break their chains,' they say, 'and throw off their fetters.' The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.

Then He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath saying, 'I've installed my king, King Jesus, on Zion, my holy hill.' I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me, 'You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask of me, King Jesus, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.

You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.' Therefore you kings be wise; be warned you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment. But blessed are all who take refuge in Him."

You see that cosmic battle there? The nations rage against Christ and against His right to rule over this world. Man says, "Get rid of the son of the owner of the vineyard, kill Him. We want to reign, we want to be Lord." The one enthroned in heaven laughs. We get terrified and scared, thinking, "Oh, poor Christians."

God's not scared. God's not shaken. He is not wringing His hands, trying to figure out what He's going to do with all these catastrophes in this world. He's enthroned. He reigns. We know from Scripture that at the end of the age the nations will mount a heightened battle offensive against Christ.

It's only going to get more intense. It's not going to get better. I don't know if that encourages you or not, but it's only going to get more intense, that battle against Christ. It helps to have this perspective because we tend to think, "They're all against me." Satan doesn't really care about you or me.

He hates Jesus. He hates God. He uses us as pawns to try and get at God. Revelation tells us that in the last days this battle will become more and more intense against Christ. Revelation 17 talks about ten kings who are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast.

They will make war on the Lamb. What chance does a lamb have against ten kings? But do you know what the next phrase is? "And the Lamb will conquer them." Amen? The Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful.

Revelation 19 is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible. Jesus comes from heaven on the white horse. It says, "I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against Him who was sitting on the horse and against His army. And the beast was captured.

And with it the false prophet. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of Him who was sitting on the horse and all the birds were gorged with their flesh." The outcome of the battle is not at all in question. The outcome is sure.

We see this cosmic battle, but then we see a microcosm of that battle in our own world: the anger of colleagues and family members against Christ that sometimes they take out on those who love and serve Him. They hate Him and they take it out on you and you feel caught in the crossfire.

It can be intense. You may have experienced that in your marriage or in the workplace. How do we survive in the middle of that battle before the last chapter gets lived out? How do we keep from becoming terrified and cowering and running? Remember two things.

One: God lets His enemies have their say and try to do their thing for a while. But they are no match for Him. When He utters His voice, the kingdoms of this world will totter and its inhabitants will melt for fear. Remember that. And then remember the chorus of this psalm. We read it twice, this refrain:

"The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." Nations raging, kingdoms tottering, the earth melting, but here's the chorus: "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." Some commentators think this was actually intended to be a chorus shouted by the congregation in response to what they had just heard.

I want us to practice that. I'll say the refrain, and then I want you to say it as if you mean it and believe it with me. "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."

Audience: The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Amen, amen. The Lord of hosts, Jehovah Sabaoth, is God's military title. The hosts are the armies of Israel, or they can be the angelic armies of God. He's the Lord of it all. He's the captain, the commander-in-chief, the supreme sovereign Lord, the God of might and power.

He has all created powers at His disposal—all created powers in heaven and on earth. He is the Lord of hosts. He rescued Jerusalem from earthly armies that sought to attack and destroy it. Ultimately God will subdue all His enemies and bring about the deliverance of His people.

The Lord of hosts is with us. That means He's on our side. His presence is threatening to our enemies, but it's comforting to us. He is all-powerful. As long as He is with us, we are safe. Emmanuel, Jesus, is the Lord of hosts, God with us, and He has promised never to leave us or forsake us.

Not only is the Lord of hosts with us, but the God of Jacob is our fortress. Now, that's a statement of grace. Jacob was no spiritual hero. He had a checkered life. He was a schemer. But the God of Abraham and Isaac was his God, too. He was in a covenant relationship, and because of that, Jacob's well-being was not dependent on his own faithfulness or character, but on God's.

The Lord of hosts is able to help us; He's all-powerful. And the God of Jacob is covenanted to help us because of His love and mercy. I love what one commentator said: "The God of Jacob is the Lord of hosts. More wondrous still, the Lord of hosts is the God of Jacob."

You may be a Jacob. You may have a son or daughter or mate who is a Jacob. But the Lord of hosts can become that person's God by grace. You may have messed up as Jacob did, but if you have placed your faith in Christ, He is your God, your fortress, and He will never leave you.

In the first paragraph of this psalm, we have nature in upheaval. In verses four through six, we have nations in an uproar. But we see in verse seven that through it all, God is a refuge, a place of safety for His people, an ever-present help. God is greater than raging nations and tottering kingdoms.

In every season and every situation, the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. That word "fortress" means a high, inaccessible place. Nobody can get you there. He is your fortress. If you are trusting in Christ for your salvation, He will be for you a high stronghold.

As John Wesley lay dying at the age of 87, a small group of friends gathered around him. He motioned for them to kneel around him for prayer. As they finished praying, Wesley tried to speak, but in his weakened condition, it was a struggle just to get the words out.

They moved closer and as they did, John Wesley cried out with one final burst of strength, "The best of all is, God is with us!" In a final gesture of triumph, just before he died, Wesley lifted his arm and repeated the words, "The best of all is, God is with us!" The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Amen.

Dana Gresh: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been giving hope to anyone who's been ridiculed because of their faith in Christ. That message is part of the series A Mighty Fortress is our God. It's based on Psalm 46.

We're able to bring you series like these thanks to the listeners who support the ministry with their prayers and financial support. Maybe you've listened for a long time and gotten a lot of benefit from the program but have never invested back into the ministry.

I wonder, would you ask yourself, "Is Revive Our Hearts important to me? Is there anything I can give? Would God want me to support this ministry?" If the answers to those questions are yes, would you ask the Lord how He might want you to give to support the ministry?

You can visit reviveourhearts.com/donate to do that today. When you do, we'll show our thanks by sending you Nancy's classic devotional, Dwell: 30 Days with God in the Psalms. It's for when your world feels unstable, when you feel alone and isolated in your faith.

The Psalms are really a wonderful place to go for comfort. Let Nancy walk with you there for a whole month through this beautiful resource. Again, you can donate at reviveourhearts.com/donate or call us at 1-800-569-5959 and be sure to request your copy of Dwell when you do.

Do you ever feel uncomfortable reading stories about the judgment of God? Me too. It is a common reaction to Old Testament stories. But the desolations God brings upon the earth can actually be a great source of comfort. Find out why tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.