PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “Words of the Prophet…Echoed in the Wells of Silence”.
By: Ron Woodrum
Recently, while listening to a local radio station, I heard some lyrics that I had not heard for many years. My mind recognized the message of the song immediately, but also recognized that the eery voice I was hearing was not the original authors. The song had be recorded by a new artist, in a very powerful new style. The words went like this:
“And in the naked light I saw
Ten Thousand People maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sounds of Silence
‘Fools’ said I ‘you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you’
But my words, like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed-in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon gods they made
And the signs flashed out its warning,
in the words that it was forming
And the signs said,
‘the words of the prophet are written on the subway walls,
and tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence'”
Those were the words of Simon and Garfunkel, written back in the sixties, being reintroduced to a new generation by the haunting voice of Disturbed. I immediately thought of Malachi. When it comes to the words of the prophet…There words go forth with the goal of disturbing the sounds of silence. They too are often received with people hearing without listening, while they bow and pray to gods of their own making. Those words echo in the wells of silence…and before long only become a whisper, that no one seems to have “ears to hear!”.
It made me think of another modern day prophet, at least for a time-Bob Dylan. Back in the late 70’s Bob Dylan i.e. Robert Zimmerman, after studying prophecy about the end times, was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, and embraced him as Lord and Saviour. His first album, following his conversion was Slow Train Coming, that had a charted hit-Gotta Serve Somebody. Bob also demonstrated his genuineness, I am told, by assisting Campus Crusade for Christ, for a time, in reaching youth at our Colleges. But the controversy by secular fans wanting to hear old Dylan favorites, and Christian fans wanting to hear only the new Christian stuff caused riots that caused the new convert to withdraw his enthusiastic embrace of Christianity, at least publically. But before he did, he released several new Christian albums with titles, Saved, Shot of Love, and Oh Mercy. On the latter Dylan, in true prophetic style, spoke to his generation about a great evil that only God, through Jesus Christ could make right. His song was Everything Is Broken. The lyrics went something like this:
Broken lines, broken strings, broken threads, broken springs
Broken idols, broken heads, people sleeping in broken beds
Ain’t no use jiving, ain’t no use joking
Everything is broken!
Broken bottles, broken plates, broken switches, broken gates
Broken dishes, broken parts, streets are filled with broken hearts
Broken words, never meant to be spoken,
Everything is broken!
Seems like every time you stop and turn around
Something else just hit the ground
Broken cutters, broken saws, broken buckles, broken laws
Broken bodies, broken bones, broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you’re chokin’
Everything is broken!
Everytime you go out someplace
Things fall to pieces in my face
Broken hands on broken ploughs, broken treaties, broken vows
Broken pipes, broken tools, People breaking broken rules
Hound dog howling, bull frog croaking
Everything is broken!
Dylan would have fit well in Malachi’s generation. As a Messenger of the Lord, that was his message to his generation. They had returned from exile. The Temple and City was rebuilt. They had experienced a short-lived revival. But now it seemed as if “Everything was Broken”. They were weary of the Lord, and now Malachi tells the priests and the people, that God is tired of their “broken-faith” that has resulted in everything being broken! It was time for them to return to Him so that he could do for them, what all the kings horses and all the kings men could never do for Humpty Dumpty, He could put them all back together again.
Several years ago, papers in England were writing about the condition of their nation. They were speculating on what is wrong? Whose to blame for the condition that had changed the landscape of their beloved country. They continued to ask the question-“what is wrong?” G.K. Chesterton wrote the editors a letter. It simply read, “I am”-signed G.K. Chesterton! As we listen to the message of Malachi, those that have ears to hear will respond with that same message. Others will only hear “the echo, in the wells of silence”.