The Battle Belongs to the Lord – Jamie Owens-Collins

July 4th. American Movie Classics channel. What do you guess is on? Midway…Patton…Glory…The Battle...(you complete the title of that last one). A war movie stirs my patriotism, but does it really convey the reality of what war does to someone? Can it prompt courage? How would you confront death? Or, if it’s more than just theory for you, how do you currently confront a death-struggle? Jamie Owens-Collins has written a song, “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”, that echoes how Israel faced its enemy (2 Chronicles 20) in battle – with divine protection. It reminds us that God, while often mysterious and invisible to us, can still overpower whomever He chooses, by Himself.

Jamie Owens-Collins comes from a musical family, so it’s no surprise that she might also use this medium to tell us her thoughts. Her father Jimmy wrote “Holy, Holy”, and her mother Carol wrote “Freely, Freely”, so we know Jamie observed their lives as musicians and worshippers. We might also say she saw them, or someone close by, as warriors, too when she wrote “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”. She shares with us that the Lord’s protection is not just for someone who wears a uniform, but also for me, a civilian in the secular, daily-grind world. What she says about the song’s origin, and how her own life has played out in its aftermath, is also instructive about how God speaks to those He chooses to use. Unlike many of the songs she’s written, Owen-Collins says this song was composed in short order, during a brief car ride to a church concert in 1985. “Boom! It was just there. By the time I got to the church, I had it finished.” Great! That makes me want to take up the pen and compose my own ditty, how about you? But, wait. Five years after its inception, Jamie was struck with depression, a four-year battle of her own. Was it her own? She admits that she discovered anew how weak she was, and how strong and dependable God is, during her illness. Could God have been trying to tell Jamie this, in a personal way, when she wrote “The Battle…” in 1985? One wonders.

Owens-Collins says this straightforward song speaks to her about God’s ways. “There are times when God comes in and just, boom!, answers your prayer right now and gives you a miracle. But, most of the time, He lets us really walk through the process.” The song Owens-Collins wrote wasn’t easily accepted by producers, she recounts, but “…the funny thing is, it’s such a simple song. You know, I’ve written other songs I feel were much more cleverly put together and crafted. This thing (the ‘Battle…” song) is just as simple as it can be, but that’s the one. I don’t know exactly how a song takes off.” God is often inscrutable, an enigma. And, He’s probably a vexation for the unbeliever who seeks the ultimate answers. Even for believers, this is often true, especially when trouble looms, or pounces. My only rational response is to cry ‘Help!’. I take heart that God does not fear in battle. He, as perfect love, casts fear aside (1 John 4:18). And so I hide myself in Him, and yield my freedom and the battlefield to Him, even if it is Independence Day.


Information on Jamie Owens-Collins’ story obtained from “Our God Reigns: The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2000.