The Other Shoe Doesn't Have to Drop

The fear of sudden disaster (& what Scripture says we can do about it)

Have no fear of sudden disaster

or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

for the Lord will be at your side

and will keep your foot from being snared. (Prov. 3:25-26)

I’ve only been fired once.

Here’s the story. I was sixteen years old and worked about ten to fifteen hours a week at the local Dairy Queen. On most evenings during the closing shift, I was left running between the drive-through and the kitchen to cover the needs before closing down for the night. Which was when it happened. This was the point in the day when my friends from school would come through the drive-through to sneak in a hello or just make fun of me for working at Dairy Queen (I had great friends!). One Friday night, however, as my friends drove through, I made the ill-fated decision that would change my life forever.

I gave away some free French fries.

The next day, a Saturday, one of my co-workers—who also happened to be my supervisor—took a friend and me out for late-night burgers at a local restaurant following our shift. After talking and laughing for several hours, he suddenly grew serious and said he had something to tell me. I had been fired. I had been caught stealing French fries. And the manager told him to bear the bad news.

The fact that the only place I have ever been fired from was a Dairy Queen over the admittedly consequential matter of French fries is, no doubt, somewhat comical. I agree. But something from that experience left me shaken. After years of reflection, I realized it left me with the suspicion that when people wanted to spend time with me—even casually—they might really be preparing to tell me something bad. The effects of that turn of events, no kidding, continue to this day.

I am terrified of sudden disaster.

I see it, for instance, in my relationships with people as a pastor. In many conversations, I find myself waiting for the shoe to drop. It is like there is this voice at the back of my head that I’m going to get some horrible news as we meet over coffee. And when a conversation ends without it happening, it feels like no small relief. My experience with being fired from Dairy Queen left me with the lingering sense that sudden disaster is probably always just around the corner.

In short, the shoe always feels like it is about to drop.

Photo by Regis-Hari Bouchard

The phrase “the other shoe is about to drop” has an interesting history in English. It first began appearing in literature around the turn of the twentieth century and is believed to have emerged from life in crowded urban apartment buildings. People living below the upstairs tenants became accustomed to hearing the loud thuds that came at the end of a workday. The expression referred to the moment after one heavy shoe had already hit the floor. Everyone knew the second shoe would soon follow. The phrase came to symbolize the expectation that another disturbance—or another problem—was inevitably on its way.

Sudden disaster does happen. Scripture never promises us a life free from the consequences of living in a world marred by sin, evil, and profound disappointment. Life confronts us with the unexpected death, the terrifying diagnosis, the job loss we never saw coming, or the breakup we never imagined would happen. These realities cannot be avoided. But what can be confronted is the fear that accompanies them. Sudden disaster may come, but it must not become the thing that controls our lives.

The word “suddenly” is a powerful one in the story of the Bible. Consider, for example, the book of Job. Job is the story of a man who famously loses everything. At the center of his suffering is the repeated sense that these disasters came without warning—suddenly. A wind suddenly brings destruction that kills his children (Jb. 1:19), his friend Eliphaz speaks of how disaster falls suddenly on the wicked (Jb. 5:3), and Job himself laments that “when a scourge brings sudden death” it comes without warning (Jb. 9:23). Job was a man deeply acquainted with the suddenness of disaster.

But miracles can also happen suddenly. It is no accident that Luke uses the word “suddenly” to describe the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the early church in Acts 2. In fact, Luke uses suddenness as a recurring theme in describing the work of the Spirit among the earliest Christians: the Spirit falls at Pentecost “suddenly” (Ac. 2:2), Saul turns to God “suddenly” (Ac. 9:3), Peter is released from prison “suddenly” (Ac. 12:7), and Paul and Silas are freed from prison when an earthquake suddenly shakes the foundations of the jail (Ac. 16:26). A number of New Testament scholars have wondered over the years whether Luke is intentionally inverting the story of Job. Just as disaster came suddenly in Job, so now the power and wind of the Spirit arrive suddenly.

What strikes me is how often I fear the suddenness of disaster while rarely holding the same expectation for the suddenness of the Spirit’s work in my life.

Maybe you are like me: you have experienced life as a constant fear that, around every corner, another shoe is about to drop. Which is why the wisdom of Proverbs is so important: “Have no fear of sudden disaster...for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared” (Prov. 3:25–26). The author of Proverbs is no prosperity teacher. He never promises that disaster will not come. But he warns us not to surrender to the fear that it will.

And, moreover, maybe you are like me, that our bodies remember those experiences so intimately that they shape our expectations of the day. Oh, the body—it’s a minor prophet, isn’t it? It speaks so truthfully to us and wants to protect us from the heartache that it once incurred.

But in this instance, the body’s memory can be very inhibiting, keeping us from being liberated to live a life of abundant trust and hopefulness. Yes, every moment may have another shoe to drop.

It may also offer the Spirit the opportunity to perform his greatest miracles.

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Thanks, as always, for being a supporter and reader of the Low-Level Theologian. You can always find me wasting as little time as possible on Instagram and Facebook. Or, check out my podcast with Dr. Nijay Gupta at Slow Theology. Remember my most recent book, entitled Slow Theology: Eight Practices for Resilient Faith in a Turbulent World. See below! And, as always, don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or comments in the comment section below.