The Lord Reigns

Dannah Gresh: When it seems that things are spinning out of control, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth says that we need to counsel ourselves with truth. 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: We’re more prone to believe what we see and feel than what God's Word tells us. Which is why we need to get our eyes and hearts off the news long enough and deeply enough to get our hearts and our eyes in this Book, in the Word. This is what is going to tell us the truth about what's going on. 

You can listen to liberal news, you can listen to conservative news, and they are saying they speak the truth. The fact is, this is the truth. You are not going to be able to interpret and understand and process and deal with what's going on in our world if you are not grounding your heart, your mind, and your life in the Word of God.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Heaven Rules, for December 4, 2024. I'm Dannah Gresh.

Your view of God impacts how you see the rest of the world. Today, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is beginning a series over Psalm 93. She’ll encourage us with truth that gives us unshakable hope even in the most troubling circumstances. Here is Nancy.

Nancy: A few days ago I saw an op-ed piece by a prominent historian. He is a commentator; he is a syndicated columnist The opening line perticularly caught my attention. He said, “Americans are growing angrier by the day.” 

Then this writer ticked off a number of issues: the challenges with immigration and at the border, economic issues, blooming inflation, government policies, the wave of crime, race relation issues, shortages of fuel and other commodities, shortage of workers, the loss of faith that Americans are feeling in federal bureaucracies that have become politicized and in his description, inept.

And then he said this, “For the first time in their lives, all Americans of all classes and races are starting to fear a self-created apocalypse that threatens their families’ safety and the American way of life.” 

In that piece he talked about “multifaceted chaos.” He talked about “collective craziness.” Then he ended that piece by saying that he believes we are on a “sure trajectory to self-inflicted, systemic paralysis—followed by civilizational collapse.”

Now, that's a lot of words, but it caught my attention, especially that last phrase: “civilizational collapse.” That seems very major. And by the way, it is not just in America and Americans that are feeling this way. We are seeing similar types of chaos all around the world. As I read that piece, it brought to mind something I read years ago from a twenty century British pastor and Bible teacher named G. Campbell Morgan. This sentence has stuck with me. I have shared it many, many times over the years, and I want to share it at the outset of this new series.

The supreme need in every hour of difficulty and distress is for a fresh vision of God. Seeing Him, all else takes on proper perspective and proportion.

When you see God, then you see everything else as it should be seen. Now, there is no question we are living in an hour of difficulty and distress. Our world is overwhelmed with trouble, and that is what the author of that op-ed piece was referring to: natural disasters, violent crime, ongoing effects of a pandemic that will last for only God knows how long. And then for those of us who love Christ and love His Word, we are concerned about the wholesale rejection in our culture of truths and realities that we took for granted . . . until now. 

 

Things as basic as the fact that there are men and women, there's male and there's female. You can't take that for granted today. That's not assumed, that not a given as it has been through the most of our lives. And in the face of all these kinds of storms in our world, a lot of people are finding themselves anxious, discouraged, fearful, angry, reactionary, and many of them just numb and paralyzed. 

It's exhausting isn't it to hear all the news, to see what's going on and to try to process all this. But I want to suggest that what these people need, those who are numb, paralyzed and discouraged and anxious, what we all need perpetually is a fresh vision of God. 

• Only a right view of God can make it possible for us to survive, much less thrive, in this world. 
• A right view of God gives us a proper sense of perspective and proportion.
• A right view of God is what will enable us to live and walk in stability, in peace, shalom, calmness, hopefulness, and joy. 

So my question is, Where do we get that view of God? If our supreme need in every hour of difficulty and distress is for a fresh vision of God, where do we get that vision of God? 

Well, you know that answer. That's why people come to Revive Our Hearts. That is why Revive Our Hearts exists—to get people into the Word of God. This is God's Word. This is His message for our day, for our time. It’s for every time, for all people, in all parts of the world, not just Americans, by the way. But all over the world, this is where we find the right vision of God.

For the next few days, I want us to park in Psalm 93. I want us to get a fresh vision of God. We are going to look at Psalm 93. So if you have your Bible with you, I want to encourage you to turn there. If you have a phone, scroll to this passage. Now, you may be listening to Revive Our Hearts while you are driving or something that would not be conducive to you turning to the passage. But if there's any way as you are listening to this broadcast or this podcast that you can turn to the Scripture, I want you to see it for yourself. 

I'm going to be teaching in this series from the Christian Standard Bible, but you use whichever one is familiar or close to you. This is going to give us a fresh vision of God. Now, it's a really short psalm, just five verses. But this psalm has enough encouragement in it, I believe, to last us for a lifetime. 

I am going to read the passage, all five verses, and then I am going to ask you to read it with me. You will see it on the screen if you are sitting here in the room where we are recording. I’ll read it, and then I am going to ask you to join me as we affirm the truth of God’s Word. This is what gives us stability when the storm is raging around us.

Psalm 93:

The LORD reigns! He is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed, enveloped in strength.
The world is firmly established;
it cannot be shaken.

Your throne has been established
from the beginning;
you are from eternity.

The floods have lifted up, LORD,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their pounding waves.

Greater than the roar of a huge torrent—
the mighty breakers of the sea—
the LORD on high is majestic.

LORD, your testimonies are completely reliable;
holiness adorns your house
for all the days to come.

Now let me ask you to read this passage with me. We will start back at verse 1, and I want to hear you read it as if you believe that it is true. When we read the Scripture, one of the things we are doing is counseling our hearts according to the truth of God's Word. Sometimes we just need to take our anxious selfs by the scruff of the neck and say, “Self, this is what God's Word says. So believe this is true no matter what it looks like around me, no matter what I may be feeling, no matter what I may be experiencing, no matter what season of life or what storm I may be in. I am choosing to believe that this is true.” That's the way we want to read this passage. 

So Psalm 93 read it with me (passage is read again).

Let me ask you to pray with me. As we pray, I want you to think of what is stressing and disturbing you today. Maybe you are feeling anxious about where our world is heading. Maybe there are some storms that are threatening to take you under: health challenges, family issues, a difficult marriage, a prodigal child, caring for an elderly parent. I want to invite you in this moment to lift your eyes up, and ask the Lord to give you a fresh vision of Himself.

Lord, that is our supreme need in this hour of difficulty and distress. So would you give us that fresh vision of yourself? Give us hope and perspective and stability for these times. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, as we look at Psalm 93, the psalmist faces the reality of distressful circumstances in our world. It's not new to have stressful circumstances. People of all times since Genesis 3 have experienced stresses and stressful circumstances. But I love that the psalmist doesn't start with the trials and troubles and the distresses. Where does he start? He starts with God. He lifts his eyes upward from the calamities around him.

Verse 1: “the Lord reigns . . .” He doesn't start by talking about his problems and the pressures and all is going wrong in the world. There's plenty of it, and he is going to talk about it. But he starts by saying the Lord reigns. I want you to say it with me, “The Lord reigns.” Once more, “The Lord reigns.” 

The Lord, that's Yahweh, the self-existing, powerful God has revealed Himself to mankind.

The Lord is King; the Lord reigns. Now, Psalm 93 is the first in a collection of eight psalms that continues through Psalm 100 on God’s kingship and His rule. The Lord reigns. The psalmist makes this emphatic, dogmatic proclamation. There's no doubt about it. It's the “The Lord reigns!” . . . exclamation point. There's No question mark here; there's no uncertainty. 

The Lord reigns whether it seems like it or not, whether it feels like it or not, whether you think it's true or not. Whether the secular world around us thinks it's true or not. It's true. The Lord reigns. 

The Lord reigns absolutely; He reigns supremely. There's none higher than He. He reigns sovereignly over every other king and ruler in this whole world. He reigns sovereignly over everyone and everything that opposes Him. He reigns over all of history. He reigns over every detail—big and small—in this universe, and in our world and in your world. 

He determines when and where you will be born, what your gender will be. That's part of the Lord's reign. He determines who your parents will be, what kind of growing up experience you will have or the circumstances you will come into through the course of your life. The Lord reigns! The Lord is King. He reigns over all of creation. He reigns over every country of our world. 

He is King! He reigns over every crisis in our world. He is King; he reigns over His Church. He reigns, He is King over all of heaven and earth. He reigns right now. The Lord reigns, that's a present tense. It is always a present tense; it's always true and it will always be true. Think about it right now when you see what is imploding in our world. Remember: the Lord reigns! Verse 1 goes to say: 

The LORD reigns! 
He is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed, enveloped in strength.

Now, that's a verb we don’t use a lot. Look at some other translations. It says in one translation, “He has put on strength as his belt” (ESV). Another one says, “girded himself with strength (NASB, NKJV). And in another says, “armed with strength” (NIV).

The Lord is dressed in kingly attire. What I love is He doesn’t just dress up as a king, He is not a play king; he is not a pretend king. He actually is a King! So He is worthy of wearing these royal, kingly garments.

That verse says He is robed in majesty. What is majesty? It's a word that's hard for us to get our heads around, especially here in the United States. We do not have a monarchy; we don't have royalty. They understand a little bit about majesty in Britain. They have pomp and elegance in many of their ceremonies. 

The word means “splendor, excellence, lifting up, greatness, magnificence, glory.” It’s as if there aren't enough words to say what it means that He is robed in majesty. He is also clothed in strength, power, and might. He is armed with strength. He is dressed for battle; He is ready for action. 

This is our King. He is majestic, and He is powerful. And as this supreme King, He controls this world and everything in it. Look at the rest of verse 1, “The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken.”

Now, would you agree with me that sometimes that verse does not seem to be true?

Does it seem like our world is quaking? is shaking? is trembling? It doesn't seem like it's firmly established. It feels like there's been an earthquake culturally and politically and religiously and spiritually and in people’s relationships. It feels like the world is not firmly established. But this passage tells us that at its deepest core, the world is firmly established and cannot be shaken. Why? Because of the first phrase, because the Lord reigns, because He is the King, because He is in control over all of this universe. The Lord reigns, and therefore the world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken.

You see, this world wants to resist God's rule and His kingship. This world wants to be his own king. People want to rule their own lives. This world wants to push God off, but they don't understand that it's the sovereign rulership and kingship of God that gives stability to our world. That's what keeps this world from imploding. If it weren’t for the fact that “He’s got the whole world in His hands,” our planet and other planets in our galaxy would spin out of control. The human race would be decimated.

Just take one little thing, like how far the sun is from our earth—93 million miles. God knows exactly how far that sun needs to be from our earth so that we don't burn up or that we don't freeze. God created this world. He keeps it in motion; He sustains it; He controls it; He is sovereign over it. That's why this world doesn't blow up and implode. Though all evidence may seem to be to the contrary, this world cannot be shaken because the Lord reigns! The Lord reigns, and that's when we need to pray like this:

Oh Lord, give us faith to believe what we cannot see. Give us faith to believe Your Word, when it seems contrary to everything that looks real and true around us. You see, here is the problem: we are more prone to believe what we see and feel than what God's Word tells us. This is why we need to get our eyes and hearts off the news long enough and deeply enough, and to get our eyes and our hearts in this Book. 

The Word is what is going to tell us that truth about what is going on.You can listen to liberel news, you can listen to conservative news, and they are all saying they speak the truth. The fact is that this is the truth, and you are not going to be able to interpret and understand and process and deal with what's going on in our world if you are not grounding your heart, your mind, and your life in the Word of God.

The Lord reigns, so we say, “Lord, help us believe that that's true, even when it seems like it's not true.

Your throne has been established
from the beginning;
you are from eternity.

So we saw that the Lord reigns now. But also we see that He has always reigned supremely. Your throne has been established from the beginning before there was time. God was reigning. God was on His throne. 

Now, no earthly throne lasts forever. Some of them seem like they do. But kings and rulers, monarchs, queens, presidents, prime ministers, dictators all rise and fall. God's throne is established forever. God is not elected, so he can't get unelected. He is not term-limited. He will never relinquish His throne. He will never be dethroned. 

The Lord reigns! Your throne, Lord, has been established from the beginning. You are not just from the beginning, but You are from eternity—eternity past and eternity future.

So, verses 1–2, that's all we are going to look at in this passage today. We’ll go to verse 3 in our next time together but verses 1–2 tell us what? The Lord reigns! The Lord reigns! 

So, how should we respond to this King? Before we wrap our time together today, I just want to say, “Think about that for a moment.” If the Lord really does reign, if He really is King, always has been and always will be, if He is a sovereign ruler and controller over all of this world, then what's the “so what?” of that? How should we respond to this King? 

Let me give you a couple of suggestions, perhaps you'll think of others:

We owe respect and honor. He reigns, so we rightly bow before Him and call Him Your Majesty. You know, when we meet an earthly ruler, even somebody whose policy or politics we may disagree with, there's something about showing respect, honoring them, and expressing that honor. Different cultures do it in different ways, but should we not recognize the greatest respect and honor of all for the King of the Universe? "Yes, Your Majesty."

Worship. We worship Him because He is God. He is the God of majesty. He is the God of strength. He is the God of power. He is the sovereign ruler over all this world. So, we not only respect and honor Him, but we worship Him. We exalt Him. He is high and lifted up.

Submission. If he is King, then we are His subjects. If he is King, then we are to obey Him. We worship Him and honor Him by submitting and saying to Him, “Yes, Lord! Yes, Lord! Yes, Lord!” as we read His Word.

What about trust? God can be trusted, because He is the King, because He has majesty and strength, and because His throne has been forever. We can trust that He knows what He's doing. We can trust that He doesn't make mistakes. We can trust Him to write our story and the stories of those that we love. We can trust Him with this world. We can trust Him with our country. We can trust Him with our futures, hopes, and our dreams. We can trust Him with the storms we may be facing in our lives and this season because the Lord reigns, we can trust Him

What about fear? Not the sense of cowering before Him but the dread of displeasing Him, if the Lord reigns. We want to do what honors Him. We want to live lives that are pleasing to Him. And just one more response.

How about love? Really? Love a majestic, ruling, sovereign, powerful King? Yes, the amazing thing about this King is that He invites us to draw near.

Remember Esther in the Old Testament? She was the wife, the Queen of King Xerxes. She wanted to go before him, but the rule of the king was if he didn't put his scepter out and you dared to come into his presence, it's off with your head. So what amazing joy there was in her heart when she dared bravely, boldly but quiveringly, to come before his presence and he held up that scepter. 

Now, God is nothing like King Xerxes. But God is a gracious and good King who says. “Draw near, come near.” We can love Him because He loves us first. 

The Lord reigns! Friends, this is our hope in times of desperation and despair. The Lord reigns! I was reading a commentary by Calvin on Psalm 93. Let me read to you just a short paragraph, where he spoke to this issue of how we respond to the Lord. He said:

Secret fears and anxieties arise in our hearts when we do not acknowledge the power which properly belongs to God, for if we firmly believed that ‘the Lord reigns,’ we would have an invincible shield against every assault of temptation.

Think about that. If we firmly believe that the Lord reigns, we couldn't be overwhelmed with anxiety, fear, anger, depression, and discouragement. That doesn't mean we wouldn't be tested. It doesn't mean we won't be tempted, but we will have a shield that protects us throughout our lives.

Now, when we get to verse 3, we are going to see a sudden turn in this passage. Not only does the Lord reign, but the floods roar. We are going to look at that tomorrow.

Oh Lord, I pray that You would open our eyes to see the beauty and the wonder and the majesty of who You are, and the fact that You reign forever and ever. Give us eyes to see and hearts to believe and to respond to You, our great, powerful, majestic, almighty, loving King. We thank You in Jesus name, amen.

Dannah: Amen! I am so glad we could open Psalm 93 together and see how this truth applies to us so much right now in 2024. We’ve been listening to Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, teaching us to stay grounded in the truth of God's Word. That’s what will help you make it through the tough times.

Did you know that Nancy’s message will also eventually be translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, and many other languages? God's Word stays the same, but the languages we use to proclaim that Word are multiplying here at Revive Our Hearts.

Nancy: Oh what an exciting time it is to be alive and to be proclaiming the truth. And the reason we can take all these opportunities to spread the Word in multitude of ways and languages is thanks to you and to other listeners like you who see God at work through Revive Our Hearts, and they partner with us. They pray for us, and they support this ministry financially.

The funds that we use to get the message out come mostly from donations and almost half of those donations for the entire year come during the month of December. So in order to keep moving through the doors that the Lord has been opening, we are praying that God will provide a significant amount of funding this month. 

If you are excited about how God has used this ministry in your life, and if you want to share that opportunity with other women, would you ask Him what He would have you to give this month? You may feel like all you can do is something very small financially. Let me say that the amount of the gift, large or small, is not what matters, it's your heart to invest in the Lord's work and in the lives of those who have been touched by this ministry. 

In fact, I love that verse in Deuteronomy that says, “Every person shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord.” So however God has blessed you, however God leads you, would you give in that way?

My prayer is that everyone would get involved in some way to help sustain and support this ministry as we move into the year ahead.

Dannah: If you're interested in seeing the beautiful growth that God is providing to this ministry into international languages, visit ReviveOurHearts.com/international.

We’re so very grateful for some friends of the ministry who've heard about that international growth, and they've gotten involved. They’ve generously offered to do a matching challenge. That means that however much you give, they’ll give the same amount. Isn't that wonderful? So when you donate this month, not only is your gift doubled, so is its impact, as we continue to reach women around the world with the hope of Christ. To give, visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1–800–569–5959.

When you feel overwhelmed by the floods of life, what do you do? Tomorrow we’re going to look at the response of the psalmist in Psalm 93 who knew a similar feeling.

Nancy: The psalmist doesn't pretend like the floods don't exist. It's not, "If you are a good Christian, you wouldn't talk about the floods." The floods do exist. They are real. We shouldn't be surprised when they threaten us.

The psalmist also doesn't try and overcome those floods with shear human effort and his own strength. He knows that he will lose is he tries to overcome these floods. So what does he do? The same thing that you and I need to do: he tells God about the floods.

Dannah: I hope you'll join us back here as we ask the Lord to 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.

All Scripture is taken from the CSB unless otherwise noted.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.