For God Is With Us

Album: What Are We Waiting For? (2022)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Over sharp beats and synthesizers, King & Country address Jesus' birth, crucifixion, resurrection and His kingdom. "This song speaks to all circumstances," said For King & Country's Joel and Luke Smallbone. "No matter hardship or great delight, we can all take great comfort in God being with us."
  • Joel and Luke Smallbone wrote "For God Is With Us" with Nashville songwriters Jordan Reynolds and Josh Kerr. They originally penned the tune while working on their A Drummer Boy Christmas album. "We started writing this song from the perspective of a baby boy, and then into adulthood and the great sacrifice of Jesus and then how it impacted humanity," said Joel Smallbone.

    As COVID-19 reared its ugly head, the Smallbone Brothers extended it through Christmas, Easter, and beyond. "Maybe this is a good reminder after so much loss, and so many questions about where God is in the midst of a pandemic, and where God is in the midst of racism or political division," said Joel Smallbone.

    The track became an offering and a celebration that both religion and science point to a creator, and the Almighty "is actually amongst us and with us and that this earth has been endowed with life and beauty that comes from God."
  • For King & Country and Josh Kerr produced the track with the Australian duo's regular production collaborators, Tedd T and Benjamin Backus.
  • For King & Country recruited Lady A's Hillary Scott for a new version. Their rendition has more of a country flavor, while retaining the song's original synthy sound. The Smallbone brothers have a history for hooking up with country stars for remixes, most famously with Dolly Parton for "God Only Knows." The country-CCM crossover isn't new for Scott either. The Lady A singer picked up Grammys for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for her CCM album Love Remains and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for "Thy Will."
  • "For God Is With Us" became For King & Country's second song to top the US Hot Christian Songs chart, following "Relate."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Donny Osmond

Donny OsmondSongwriter Interviews

Donny Osmond talks about his biggest hits, his Vegas show, and the fan who taught him to take "Puppy Love" seriously.

Mike Love of The Beach Boys

Mike Love of The Beach BoysSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist of The Beach Boys talks about coming up with the words for "Good Vibrations," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Kokomo" and other classic songs.

Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power

Emilio Castillo from Tower of PowerSongwriter Interviews

Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top Proverb

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top ProverbSong Writing

How a country weeper and a blues number made "rolling stone" the most popular phrase in rock.

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"They're Playing My Song

Gramm co-wrote this gorgeous ballad and delivered an inspired vocal, but the song was the beginning of the end of his time with Foreigner.