Martin Smith – Fill my cup

English artist Martin Smith is a solo artist and former frontman for Delirious?.  Beginning with his solo career in 1992, he helped release 55 separate albums, including solo, with Delirious?, and contributions to other projects.

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?

Martin Smith describes a three-fold process, asking for God’s help on each step:

1. God blesses Smith with His lovingkindness, equity, and accuracy.
2. Smith’s cup overflows.
3. Smith pours out his blessing on others, emptying his cup.  This begins the cycle again.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

These lyrics reflect Biblical concepts.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

This song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge format.  Therefore, I assigned stanzas to each paragraph.

[Stanza 1]

Fill my cup, so it’s overflowing
Flowing like a river, fill my cup
Fill my cup, fill it with your mercy
Love and truth and justice, fill my cup

This is based on Psalm 23:5.  The cup represents capacity for God to fill Smith with His mercy (Genesis 15:6, Exodus 33:19, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 4:3-8, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 11:5-6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 5:4, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Titus 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and James 2:23), love (Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 17:7, Psalm 36:5-7, Psalm 63:3, Psalm 69:16, Psalm 117:2, Isaiah 54:8, Lamentations 3:22-23, John 3:16, John 13:34, John 15:13, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 8:37-39, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:4-5, Ephesians 5:25, Titus 3:4, 1 John 4:8-10, and 1 John 4:16-19), truth (John 17:17), and justice (Leviticus 19:18, Deuteronomy 32:35, Proverbs 20:22, Romans 12:17-19, Romans 13:1-7, and Hebrews 10:30).  Overflowing represents the fact that God gives Smith more than he could ask (Ephesians 3:20).

[Stanza 2]

Oh lord, the river’s running high
So take me to the other side

Stanza 4 explains that the river represents living water (Jeremiah 17:13, Zechariah 14:8-9, John 4:7-26, John 7:37-39, Acts 2:1-13, Revelation 6:9-11, Revelation 7:13-17, Revelation 21:6-7, and Revelation 22:1-5).  Combined with the overflowing cup imagery in Stanza 1, the second line is about emptying ourselves by sacrificially serving others (Philippians 2:5-8).  Thus, Smith describes a cyclic filling/emptying process.

Oh lord, the tide’s running high
So take me to the other side, fill my cup

Essentially repeats lines 1 and 2.

[Stanza 3]

Fill my cup, so it’s overflowing
Flowing like a river, fill my cup

Repeats stanza 1, lines 1 and 2.

Take this cup, heavy with your blessing
Pour it over nations, take this cup

See commentary on Stanza 2, lines 1 and 2.

[Stanza 4]

Oh lord, the river’s running high
So take me to the other side

Repeats Stanza 2, lines 1 and 2.

Oh lord, the flood’s running high
So take me to the other side

Essentially repeats Stanza 2, lines 3 and 4.

[Stanza 5]

Rivers of living water
Overflowing through me
From the throne of God
Overflowing through me

As stated in my commentary in Stanza 2, Smith explains here that the “flowing rivers” is living water.  This stanza summarizes the entire song.

[Stanza 6]

Rivers of living water
Overflowing through me
From the throne of God
Overflowing through me
Rivers of living water
Overflowing through me
From the throne of God
Overflowing through me

Repeats different parts of Stanza 5.

[Stanza 7]

Take us to the other side

The pronoun shifts to plural, where Smith hints that we should follow his example.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers should conclude that it’s not a literal cup that overflows given that the cup overflows with mercy, justice, and truth.  They will probably comprehend the general gist of the song, that Smith asks for blessings so that he can spread it to others.  The terms “Lord” and “God” point them towards Christianity.  They probably won’t understand the concept of living water and “take me to the other side”.

Score: 7/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God that Smith asks God to bless him so that he can bless others.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Martin Smith’s Fill my cup is simple but not simplistic.  It speaks of Smith’s request for God to bless him to bless others, asking for help along the way.  This glorifies God.  Unbelievers will probaly comprehend this song’s overall message, even if some of the details are hazy.

I highly recommend it for corporate worship.  Seeker-sensitive churches may need to explain what “living water” and “take me to the other side” means before worshipping with it.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Fill my cup (listen to the song)

Artist: Martin Smith

Album: CompassionArt (2008) (contributor)

Genre: Gospel

Release Year: 2008

Duration: 4:59

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

*Copyright © 2009 Gloworks Limited (PRS) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.