Always too late
On disappointment and the power of hope
Always Missing the Mark
Sooner or later, everyone faces those moments when your spirits sink to rock bottom. You give it your absolute best, you go all out, and yet you’re left empty-handed.
Take that job you had your heart set on, for example. Your cover letter was rock-solid, your resume was a perfect fit, but in the end, the director’s nephew walks away with the prize. Or look at today’s housing market. You offer a high price for that beautiful house, but there’s always someone with deeper pockets who outbids you by a hair. The realtor calls with the standard line: “Unfortunately, someone else beat you to it.” That feeling of “just missing out” is devastating.
That disappointment can sometimes run very deep and become painfully personal. Why does that other person perk up after a prayer service, while you went with just as much hope and longing, but are still struggling with that same pain? Why does the miracle elude you?
The man who was always late
This reminds me of a story from the Bible that I’ve titled “Always Late.” It’s about a man who had been lingering at a bathhouse for 38 years. Before it became a place for the sick, it likely served as a mikveh (a Jewish ritual bath) or as a reservoir to supply water to the nearby Temple. People believed back then that every now and then an angel would stir the water. Whoever was the first to dive in would be healed. Whether that was a folk belief or reality, let’s leave that aside for now—for this man, it was the straw he clung to.
For thirty-eight years, he tried. For thirty-eight years, he watched one person after another go before him. Why? Because he was on his own. He had no one to give him that little push. It is precisely when things are going against you that you need someone to say, “Cheer up, next time it’s your turn.” But this man was alone in his struggle. His life could be summed up in that one discouraging sentence: “It never works out for me.”
And then, out of nowhere, Jesus is standing there.
Jesus sees him standing there
Amid the crowd, Jesus singles him out. He doesn’t just glance around casually; He truly sees him. He knows the years of helplessness and the silent despair hanging in the air. And then He asks that seemingly strange question (John 5:6): “Do you want to be healed?”
After 38 years of waiting, that almost sounds like a bad joke, but it is an invitation. Jesus recognizes the paralysis—literally and figuratively—and offers a way out. We don’t know how Jesus knew all this; the Bible doesn’t say anything about it. But it’s typical of Him: He has an eye for the marginalized. Just as He had already seen Nathanael sitting under that fig tree, even before they had exchanged a word.
Jesus has a keen eye for human suffering. Perhaps someone in Bethesda had whispered to Him: “Look at that man lying there; he’s been waiting for an eternity.” In any case: Jesus sought him out.
You are in the picture
This is the heart of it: you can be sure that you are seen. Even if you feel like you’re always at the back of the line and success just won’t come.
Think of Peter. He toiled all night on the water, but the nets remained empty. Until he met Jesus and everything changed. Ecclesiastes 9:11 puts it very matter-of-factly: time and chance happen to us all. Success isn’t always in your own hands. Sometimes things just go against you, no matter how hard you try. Then discouragement lurks, and you think: forget it.
But that’s exactly when Jesus comes to you. The Bible is full of the promise of a fresh start. Joel 2:25 speaks of God restoring the years that “the locusts have devoured”—the lost years of disappointment. He asks you: “Shall we start over together? Do you want to embark on a path of restoration?”
Perhaps you’re exhausted from all that trying. Isaiah 40 promises that God will give you new strength. Strength like that of an eagle, enabling you to rise above your circumstances instead of drowning in them.
A new chance
That is who God is. He comes to you in Jesus Christ to pull you out of the pit of disappointment. Even after 38 years of being stuck, a breakthrough can come that you no longer dared to hope for.
Maybe you’re thinking, “Nice story, but it’ll take time.” Then Jesus says, “Don’t give up hope. I want to help you turn a wound into a miracle.” The man at Bethesda didn’t get better through his own struggles, but because he made room for Jesus.
I want to invite you to do the same. Just say: “Lord Jesus, please come into my life. You know exactly where I’ve stumbled and where I’ve lost hope. Take my hand and help me look ahead with a fresh perspective.
”Based on John 5:1-9, Ecclesiastes 9:11, Joel 2:25, and Isaiah 40.
@wimvanputten