Photo by Michał Parzuchowski
Billy James Foote started leading worship in 1990, right after graduating from East Texas Baptist University. At first it was just him and his guitar, but after a few years he added a bass player and a drummer, and his wife Cindy joined on vocals. In the late 90s, he began to write music. Around 2000, Foote developed a neurological condition called hyper-dysphonia, which greatly affected his vocals. Cindy took over singing the lead vocals when touring or recording, but Foote continued to write. Some of his more well-known songs are “Amazing Love (You are My King),” “Sing to the King,” and “You are God Alone.”
Source: https://hymnary.org/person/Foote_BJ.
The song You Are My King (Amazing Love) was originally recorded and released by Phillips, Craig & Dean in 2001. Normally, I would create the review under the artist who recorded the song first; However, it’s not clear to me if Foote’s hyper-dysphonia prevented him from recording his version first. Therefore, I created the review under Foote’s name.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Billy-james-foote-you-are-my-king-lyrics.
Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site! Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.
1. What message does the song communicate?
Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection make forgiveness of sins possible. He is a King who was condemned as a criminal so that Foote could receive acceptance by the Father as His child and receive His Spirit. Foote is astonished by this grace offered to him, wondering how God can be so generous. Yet, Foote is grateful and wants to honor God, pointing to subservience.
Foote states that the Father abandoned the Son on the cross. I disagree with this statement and will talk more about why in section 2. This has little impact on this song’s overall message.
Score: 9/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Aside from a disagreement with the song’s opening line, this song is Biblical.
This song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure. Therefore, I assigned stanzas to each paragraph.
[Stanza 1]
Lines 1-5: This describes a cause and effect relationship known as the “great exchange”, that Christ turns our ugly, dead ash-heap of sin into a beautiful tapestry, full of life and freedom (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24). Also, the Holy Spirit lives inside Foote (Acts 6:5, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:16-19, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 5:18, and 2 Timothy 1:14).
While the concept that Christ was abandoned by the Father at the cross is popularly taught, according to Psalm 22:11 and Psalm 22:19, the original author of Psalm 22:1 where Jesus quoted in Matthew 27:46 shows that David wasn’t left behind. He only felt that way! Given all the Scripture about how Jesus doesn’t leave His children, including Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:8-9, 1 Chronicles 28:20, Psalm 118:6, Lamentations 3:22-23, and Hebrews 13:5-6, it seems strange that God would abandon Christ. Yet, we are forgiven (Matthew 26:28, Act 2:38, Act 5:31, Act 10:43, Romans 4:7, Romans 5:6-8, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, Colossians 2:13-14, James 5:15, James 5:19-20, 1 John 2:1-2, and 1 John 2:12).
[Stanza 2]
Lines 1-3: Describes Christ as King (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 11:10, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1-6, John 12:15, John 18:37, 1 Timothy 6:13-16, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:11-16), with Foote contemplating why Jesus’ amazing love would compel Him to die for him (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10), yet trusting in Christ.
Lines 4 and 5: Foote shows that he honors God through obedience (Matthew 25:34-40, John 14:15, John 14:21-24, John 15:10-14, 1 Peter 1:14-15, 1 John 2:3-5, 1 John 4:19-20, 1 John 5:2-3, and 2 John 1:6).
[Stanza 3]
Repeats Stanza 1.
[Stanza 4]
Repeats Stanza 2.
[Stanza 5]
Lines 1-5: See commentary on Stanza 2, lines 1-3.
[Stanza 6]
Repeats Stanza 2 with the final line repeating again.
Score: 9/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers will probably interpret this song as the Christian Gospel, especially given its thick reliance on Christianese language with terms and phrases such as “Spirit”, “Jesus”, and “died and rose again”.
Though I took exception with the Father turning His face away, I don’t suspect that many outside the camp of Christ will contemplate on it. Still, there is always that possibility.
Score: 9/10
4. What does this song glorify?
Aside from the abandonment statement mentioned in previous sections, it glorifies God through its accurate description of the Gospel.
Score: 9/10
Closing Comments
Billy James Foote’s You Are My King (Amazing Love) is an amazing song overall. Though I disagree that the Father abandoned Jesus as the cross, the song presents elements of the Gospel and calls us to honor our King with allegiance, glorifying Him. Unbelievers should be able to interpret similarly.
To those who disagree with my stance on abandonment or think it’s not that big of a deal, consider adding this classic to your worship roster. To those who agree with me, if you still want to use this song, consider a slight rewording. Perhaps “I’m forgiven because You were rejected“. I’m not sure if that flows better though.
Final Score: 9/10
Artist Info
Track: You Are My King (Amazing Love) (listen to the song)
Artist: Billy James Foote
Album: Let My Words Be Few (By Phillips, Craig & Dean)
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2001
Duration: 5:16
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Comments
Andrea
Really enjoy reading your evaluations, this is a helpful site. When I read your closing paragraph suggesting altering lyrics to better suit, please be aware that doing so is in violation of copyright laws. This is explained explicitly on the CCLI website. Song lyrics must not be changed – if you don’t like certain wording, it would be better to see if you can omit that segment of the song in your arrangement (ie skip the bridge).Otherwise choose another song. Copyright is a much bigger deal than most people are aware of today!
💚Grace F.💚 (@SoGoRox1)
To be honest, I was a bit surprised you didn’t mention the line “In all I do, I honour you.” That line is definitely the biggest complaint I’ve heard about this song.
Vince Wright
Grace,
Thank you for your comment!
I did respond to it, but perhaps not in the way that other people would? What I’m hearing is that the chief complaint is that Foote practices what he preaches, as opposed to admitting that sometimes, he does not, much like Paul admitted in Romans 7:14-25. He knows the right thing to do and chooses otherwise. I didn’t question it because of my scope, to remain within the lyrics only. Does Foote actually honor God in all he does? Maybe not. But, it’s not for me to judge based solely on the lyrics. But, I understand why this complaint exists.
I hope that makes sense.
-Vince Wright
💚Grace F.💚 (@SoGoRox1)
That makes perfect sense! Thank you for responding. (FYI—I wasn’t being nitpicky. I just wanted to know what you thought of it 🙂 )
Vince Wright
Grace,
Awesome!
I didn’t think you were being nitpicky. This was a legitimate concern that deserved a serious response.
-Vince Wright
Ray Wright
I believe the actual lyrics here are: “And it’s my joy to honor you, in all I do, to honor you.” The preposition “to” in this context (instead the pronoun “I”) seems to express intentionality: the songwriter doesn’t necessarily always honor God, but when he does, it gives him joy to do so.
RickW
I believe the lyrics in the first stanza are, “I’m forgiven because You were forsaken”, which directly echoes Jesus’s words on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” So the question becomes, do we take Jesus at His word that He was forsaken by the Father, or do we read into His words a symbolic meaning? If He indeed BECAME sin so that we might become His righteousness, then it would make sense that He would have been forsaken.
I appreciate your articles and your spirit of inquiry and investigation into these songs. Sometimes, I wonder how some of the favorite “old hymns” would stack up.
To me, there are too many good songs, both old and new, that are worth singing, to ignore either.