Isaiah 21-23: Ask and Come Back Yet Again

 “Watchman, what is left of the night?
   Watchman, what is left of the night?”
The watchman replies,
   “Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
   and come back yet again.” - Is. 21:11-12

Often, we do find ourselves asking:  "What is left of the night?"  When will this all be over?  When will the wars and revelry, springtime and harvest, new birth and old age, life and death, goodness and evil, when will it end?  When will we see the morning, if morning ever comes?  The cycle spirals, never upward, only down. We look and look but there seems to be no end.  The only answer to our question is 'ask and come back yet again.'

And therein lies the answer. Life is not in the answer, it is in the question.  Life is in the search.  We will know the answer when we see it, but until then, there are still crops to plant, babies to birth, wars to fight, all without answers, only with anticipation.  What is left of the night?  Will morning ever come?  Ask the questions, the answers may be more than we want or need to know.  Ask the questions, then live your life.

2010 Post - Isaiah 21-23:  Morning Comes