From the archives of Evelyn Roberts – Second of two parts
David had lost everything to Ziklag—his home, his family, his reputation among his men. Only one thing remained: His relationship with the Lord. And David chose to encourage himself in the Lord. What does that word encourage mean? It literally means “To have courage inside you again.” It means to get your courage back when a problem strikes. How do we do that? We do it by immersing ourselves in the Lord, by thinking only of Him, by concentrating on His Word. But what comes next?
The Bible says, “David inquired of the Lord” (1 Samuel 30:8). In other words, He asked the Lord what he should do. We can do the same thing. We can boldly come to the Lord and say, “What do I do now to recover from this tragedy?”
When our daughter Rebecca and her husband were killed in a plane crash in 1977, leaving three orphaned children, I grieved deeply. I cried for four days straight and on the fourth night I said, “Oral, I cannot get through this night. Pray with me.” We prayed together in the spirit and then Oral said, “Evelyn, the Lord has told me He wants us to do something to get over this grief.” “What?” I asked. He said, “We’re to make a television program and tell the world what has happened and what we believe about God.”
Making that program was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But when you get a directive from the Lord, you have to do what He says. We made that program, and through our tears, we told the world that our God is a good God, that He heals and delivers, and that He died for our sins. And one day, He will resurrect each one of us who believe in Him. That was a seed we planted that started our healing from grief.