How Long?

 

“An oracle concerning Dumah.

 

Someone is calling from the mountains of Edom 

‘Night watchman! How long will the darkness last?

How long will the darkness last?’

 

The night watchman calls back,

‘Morning is coming,

But for awhile it will be night.

Keep asking.’”  —Isaiah 21:11,12

 

“Dumah”—the empty spaces of the desert, emblematic of the empty places in our hearts.

 

The ancient question: “How long will the darkness last?”  

 

The prophet answers, “Morning is coming, but for awhile it will be night. Keep asking….” (vs. 12).

 

God’s program is carried forward, not by quantum leaps and bounds, but by the slow, steady movement of time. We must wait through the darkness till the end of time.

 

Waiting is the hardest of all disciplines—living in “faith and patience,” through long periods when God is strangely silent (Hebrews 6:12). 

 

But, though the night grows long, morning is sure to come. (“Is coming” is written in a Hebrew form that expresses certainty.) The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2), and the darkness will flee away. 

 

“Even so come Lord Jesus!” The only answer to earth’s troubles. 

 

David Roper

5.20.20