A young man awakens early before first light, moving down the hallway he sees his master is up already. Not surprising really, he often rises early to pray, so committed. Still he should be more attentive to his master’s needs. The sun should be rising enough for him to check the horizon. As the shadows abated his eyes widened, to behold the massive army camped outside. The young man and his master the prophet, were under siege. The Arameans had arrived.
Thousands of years later and the events of Elijah and his servant are legendary. As history unfolds he prays for the eyes of that young man to be opened, once they are then it becomes clear of why Elijah was so confident. The invisible yet very present army from heaven surrounding the arameans who ironically surrounded them. Hip hop artist KB spoke with contemporary Christian singer Chris Tomlin on what inspired his song “Whom shall I fear”. Tomlin approached friend Ed Cash who also co-wrote “How great is our God”. Tomlin recalls Cash said
I woke up with this song and I thought about you and I thought we should write this together”
and it gets his guitar and he just started he said man.
I just had that I woke up. He said my wife was going through so much he said in the and I should go through all these things where she couldn’t sleep at night having all these panic attacks and oppression,…
one of those hard nights. I was deep deep deep nice where he said she just felt so much coming against her and she woke me up and said, can you pray for me and I said okay and he said and I start praying for my wife and he does my guitar was over in the corner of the room he said like and I grabbed my guitar and he goes and I don’t know where it came from.
I just started singing. I know who goes before me. I know who stands behind God of angels, he’s always by my side”
Those last words speak such peace with confidence It’s those same words that KB included in his latest EP Armies. Sampling from Tomline’s “Whom shall I fear” adds an interesting combination that adds some defiance
When I listen to “Armies” I feel not only surrounded by an army but also that I’m part of that army. It brings a balance of encouragement of God’s provision and at the same time a defiance to the enemy. You start to understand the conference that Elijah had when the enemy forces came to his door. A year ago KB did an interview with Shaping The Culture Podcast, and he talked about an upcoming worship hip hop album, could this be a hint at what we can expect? One can hope.
