The best and worst of the internet happened on a not-so-innocent Tuesday night in July. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen the Coldplay kiss cam video, read the articles, or been part of the internet-breaking moment. For the “under-a-rock” folks — a quick Google search will catch you up.
For the cheating couple caught on the kiss cam, their lives have hit a serious bump in the road. That’s not really what I’m concerned about today — they started digging that pothole in their lives some time ago. But what about the others who are now caught in the middle of this viral spotlight? What about the spouses, children, coworkers, board members, friends, and family? By no fault of their own, lives have been turned upside down.
What do you do when your life gets turned upside down?
One first inclination might be to get vindictive — call a divorce lawyer, start drawing up the papers (and let’s be honest, it’s not going 50/50). Or maybe it’s to crawl under a rock and wait for the chaos to blow over. Some people might get angry. There are so many things we can do, want to do, are tempted to do. But what does the Bible say about how to respond when our world crashes down around us?
The Book of Psalms is a collection of ancient wisdom and poetry. Psalm 37 gives us advice for when it feels like bad people are getting ahead at our expense. Know what it says? Don’t worry. Don’t be envious. They’ll soon fade like grass. More importantly, it says: trust in the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Be still before God and wait patiently for Him.
That is the absolute opposite of what I want to do. I want to get active. I want to get vindictive. I want to trust in lawyers to get my pound of flesh. But David, the writer of this Psalm, says: Commit your way to God. Trust in God. And He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn.
Does that mean we don’t hire lawyers and stand up for ourselves? Check out the Going Deeper video.
Elliot W. Sands is the Executive Director of Faith First and host of the Live Faith First podcast. He spent 17 years as a pastor, including five years as a school principal, and even co-founded a health-tech start-up. Elliot has walked alongside many people as their worlds came crashing down — and lived through a few crashes himself. He’s never been on a kiss cam, but if he had been, it would’ve been with his wife, Penny.
