God So Loved -- Andrew Bergthold, Ed/Franni/Martin/Scott Cash

 

Has anyone ever not seen the multicolored hair-guy at a sporting event with the sign that reads John 3:16? Perhaps that is one reason why this brief statement that Jesus makes has become so well known, and maybe has even played a part in why “God So Loved” was penned with music in 2019 by the musical group We the Kingdom. Andrew Bergthold and the Cashes (Ed, Franni, Martin, and Scott) are just the latest group of humanity to be fascinated by God’s saving act, which culminated in His march to the cross and death there (See Jesus as God in the flesh acting out His most important bit of love for humanity, as He prepared to die, shown here in the painting Ecce Homo [Behold the Man!] by Antonio Ciseri.) It was such a momentous event, that it’s a wonder that more of us don’t snap wide awake with this on our minds. That part helps explain why Ed felt like the song just had to be born in 2019, and though the main theme of the verse is key, the subtext of the song also resonates personally with members of the group, too.  

 

We the Kingdom was sharing, beginning with Ed Cash, in 2020 how the song came to light and what it meant to them. Ed said that he woke up one morning with the John 3:16 verse on his mind, and an accompanying musical phrase just kept repeating for him, so he wanted a song to continually remind him of the beauty of that verse. Ed pondered what God was really preparing to do when he sent Jesus, and   Scott then shared that what God did was say that we humans don’t have to get all fixed up before coming to Him. We can bring all the hurts, and sins/shames/filth to him, and anybody that says otherwise is a liar. He welcomes us as we are, and therefore shed His blood to save us from those things. All we have to do is to be vulnerable and acknowledge our condition. Franni talked about the song’s 2^nd verse, which admits the hardship of life, addictions and darkness, and how the song’s bridge lifts people above those things. We let Him be sovereign when we admit who we are, and seek His greatness. That evidently was pretty significant for all the Cashes, who had been part of an addiction of sorts, having formerly been part of a religious cult. Another group member, Martin, shared that God loves not just America or some particular state or city, but the whole world and every culture, so there are no borders restricting who can come to Jesus. Everyone in the world is spiritually thirsty, just as everyone also needs physical water.

 

Failures, addictions, weariness, power of hell – those are all part of the subtext of the song that We the Kingdom says that Jesus has buried for people who come to Him. God so loved the world, that He was willing to do what He did. Anyone who thinks they have it all together is really saying that God’s deepest expression of Himself for us was a vain act, an exercise that would be rooted in a hoax so great that we would really have to question how this God could still be Creator and Sustainer. Would He really be able to make everything sensible if His coming to earth and dying and rising weren’t necessary? We the Kingdom, probably more than some others, were people that felt like something ‘was off’, as they recall their time in a cult before leaving it in Franni’s 18^th year. That’s how other people who don’t have God may ultimately think as well, when they aren’t in touch with the real, authentic, compassionate God of John 3:16. Things eventually go awry in our mortal existence, but are set right eventually when we have Him and connect with His Spirit, and recognize Jesus as the doorway. Have you walked through that doorway yet, as the Cashes did some years ago?        

 

Read the song’s story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_So_Loved

 

Watch/hear the song’s story shared here by the composers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-3CW4qQ9gQ (Story starts at 0:24 of video.)

 

Read about the composing group here: We the Kingdom - Wikipedia

 

Read about one of the composers here: ‘God Is Not Done With You,’ Says Former Cult Member Franni Cash, Now Opening for Brandon Lake

 

Information on the image:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecce_homo_by_Antonio_Ciseri_(1).jpg …The author died in 1891, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer….This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931.

It Is Good to Sing Your Praises -- Anonymous Psalmist

 

This worshipper wanted something that would mark the Sabbath Day appropriately. And, though it was called ‘day’, the Sabbath (known as the Shabbat in Hebrew) actually began on Friday at sunset (a sunset at this blogger’s address was captured on 26 September 2025, shown here), perhaps a time marked in a quiet and yet sublime majesty in color that declared the Creator’s hand was still at work, like that shown in the photo here. That would have been reason enough to begin the praise hymn as this anonymous psalmist did on that occasion, as one of the opening lines of the hymn spoke of His artistry in the sky above. “It Is Good to Sing Your Praises”, he said, as he reflected on the various ways that Yahweh had blessed those he had made, and especially those whom He had chosen as His cherished possession. Think about that for a few moments…can the blessedness of you be diminished when you look at the sky and realize that the universe’s composer is the same One who has selected you?  

 

Perhaps that was the thought process of this nameless songwriter, that he wanted to acknowledge God’s goodness and almighty nature in one breath. That would be a rather daunting proposition, would it not? But that rather impossible task did not stop this psalmist perhaps as long as 3,000 years ago from jotting down something that was meant to be used on the Sabbath, according to biblical scholars. In fact, Psalm 92, from which ‘It Is Good…’ draws its verses in a close paraphrase, is the only psalm with the superscription ‘For the Sabbath Day’ associated with it. So, it seems likely that this psalm would have been uttered-sung by faithful Jews every 7^th Day, a day dedicated to the Lord as He directed them in the 4^th Commandment (see Exodus 20:8 and Deuteronomy 5:12). To laud Him for His creativity in what one could see in nature was one theme in the psalmist’s poetry, interspersed throughout the verses and recalled in the paraphrase of ‘It Is Good…’, when the 1912 version with three musical verses was first published. That 20^th Century writer used phrases ‘…morning lights the sky’, and ‘…good when night is falling’ (v.1), ‘…works Thy hands have wrought’ (v.2), and ‘…planted…fruitful trees and ever verdant’ (v.3) to echo what the original psalmist penned. A second theme is how God had made the psalmist a blessed person indeed – ‘…my life victorious’ (v.2), and ‘…His goodness to the righteous’, and ‘…my rock, my strength and refuge’(v.3). This carried with it an acknowledgement of God’s omnipotence and sovereignty --  ‘…(He is) on high exalted, reignest evermore in might’ (v.2)  -- and of necessity, His justice for those engaged in wrongdoing – ‘…enemies shall perish, sin banished (v.2), and ‘…just and true are His ways’ (v.3).

 

It never grows old or irrelevant, does it? The facets of God that the psalmist saw are the same ones that still endure today. There are other songs that speak of God in the same way as does ‘It Is Good…’, and yet this Psalm 92 retranslation (now over a century old itself, since its inception in 1912) has a distinctiveness that is useful for us who aspire to devotion. As the only psalm specifically written for the Sabbath Day, the songwriter was intent on making sure that he didn’t sing just anything randomly, but constructed something that would remind himself and the worshippers of how they related to God in the most fundamental ways. He’s a creative being, which we humans cannot ignore, and so much of what we see from His hand speaks of His basic goodness. He’s good, and draws to Himself, and protects and nourishes those who want to be His. Do you and I have a better option than Him who has such a nature? You’re in no better hands than in Him whose hands the ancient psalmist saw draw the morning and evening skies. Take a look outside in the morning and evening, and see if you agree.     

 

Read about the Sabbath here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath

 

Read some details of the hymn here, including when a 20^th Century version of the psalm was first published: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/t/i/s/itisgood.htm

 

See the NIV Study Bible and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible for information on Psalm 92.