Is it possible that a revival could turn us in direction toward God?

on Apr 28, 2026

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: As secular as our society has become, is it pos*sible that revival could break out and turn our country in a different direction – a direction toward God? I’m not sure society has the heart to cope with God’s judgment, but experiencing His forgiveness and love would make this world a better place. – S.S.

A: At the heart of true revival is a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. When it takes place, people have a new vision of the majesty of God because their hearts are turned to Him.

We must understand that the Lord is not only tender and merciful and full of compassion, but He is also the God of justice, holiness, and wrath. Many people have a caricature of God. They do not see God in all of His wholeness. We glibly quote John 3:16, but we forget to quote the following verses: “The one who does not believe has been judged already” (v. 18, NASB). Compassion is not complete in itself, but must be accompanied by inflexible justice and wrath against sin and a desire for holiness.

What stirs God most is not physical suffering but sin. All too often, we are more afraid of physical pain than of moral wrong. The cross is the standing evidence of the fact that holiness is a principle for which God would die. God cannot clear the guilty until atonement is made. Mercy is what we need, and that is what we receive at the foot of the cross.

Hannah Whitall Smith once wrote, “What we need is to see that God’s presence is a certain fact always, and that every act of our soul is done right before Him, as if our eyes could see Him and our hands could touch Him. Then we shall cease to have such vague conceptions of our relations with Him, and shall feel the binding force of every word we say in His presence.”

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)