In writing my book If God Is Good, I interviewed dozens of believers who have experienced deep suffering firsthand. One of those people was Robert Rogers, whose entire family drowned in a 2003 Kansas flash flood. In a moment he lost his beloved wife and all four of his children. (If God Is Good is dedicated to Robert and many other faithful sufferers, whose extraordinary stories touched my heart.)

The Christ-centered Rogers family went to church, tithed, read the Bible, and prayed together. After the disaster, Robert entered a dark world of Job-like suffering. On the worst day of his life, his ten children taken from him, Job worshiped God. On the worst day of his life, when a flood swept away his wife and four children, Robert turned to God in worship. He told me he did so, not because he didn’t feel the loss; on the contrary, he felt it so deeply that he could not lose the one object he had left to grab on to: God. He couldn’t function, couldn’t go on living, without worshiping God.

We dare not wait for a time of crisis to learn how to worship God. Job and Robert both worshiped God in crisis because they worshiped God before the crisis. If we learn now the meaning of God’s sovereignty and goodness, a biblical theology of suffering will sustain us when suffering comes.

You can watch Robert share more about his story in this 8-minute video:

Robert writes: “God is a God of restoration. In 2003, my precious wife, 2 mighty sons, and 2 lovely daughters drowned in the Kansas flash-flood. Now, by the grace of God, He has blessed me with a precious wife, 2 mighty sons, and 2 lovely daughters! This can only be the hand of God! I cherish my family on earth and in Heaven more than words can contain. ‘Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in him!’ (Psalm 34:8 NLT).”

If you’d like to know more about Robert’s story and ministry, see his website.

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash