So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.
Mark 8:6-9a
Four thousand people sat listening to Jesus with nothing to eat, but Jesus miraculously fed all of them with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. And the people were filled. The Greek word for "filled" is cortazo, meaning that the people weren't just comfortably full; rather, they were stuffed to the max! These people had so much to eat that they couldn't put another morsel in their mouths. This word is such a great picture of God's love for us. God wants us to be filled!
You see, God is not out to "get you" or make your life miserable. He is out for your good. Look at all of the times the word "filled" is used in the Bible; indeed, He wants us to be filled with so much. Read these verses and be reminded just how much God wants to fill you.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6).
"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4).
"And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 13:52).
"Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another" (Romans 15:14).
"To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).
"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18).
"Be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:11).
"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." (Colossians 1:9).
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple" (Isaiah 6:1).
"Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the temple; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory" (Ezekiel 10:4).
"Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory all the day" (Psalm 71:8).
"And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen" (Psalm 72:19).
