Meditation is Like Chewing the Cud

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Wednesday, 20th June 2007

Yesterday, I blogged about the key to the prosperous and successful life is constant meditation on God's Word.

Today, I will elaborate a little more about this.

God has created animals in such a way that man can draw lessons from them.

Take for example the ant. In Prov 6:6, the lazy man is asked to look to it and learn from its industrious nature.

Another example is the deer. In Ps 42:1, the Psalmist drew inspiration from the way it panted for the water, and likened it to his own soul's longing for the Living God.

Likewise, we can learn how to constantly meditate upon God's Word from the way a cow eats grass.

God has created cows with 4-chambered stomachs. The grass that the cow ingests goes into the 1st chamber when first swallowed, is regurgitated back out into its mouth and it chews on it again. It then goes into the 2nd chamber and the process is repeated.

In other words, the same bits of grass is chewed upon by the cow throughout the day!


Similar for us with God's Word. A single verse like "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" can be meditated upon throughout the day during those "idle" times waiting for the bus, train, etc.

The first time around we meditate on the verse, God may cause the word "is" to jump out. The Lord IS my shepherd, not WAS or WILL BE. That means He is there for me right here and now.
The next time we meditate on this verse, perhaps the word "shepherd" will stand out. The picture of a shepherd depicts protection from harm and evil.

Yet the next time, the words "not want" is being emphasised. Here we get comfort that all our needs are met.

Because God's Word is living and active (Heb 4:12) and is like a diamond with many facets, different aspects of the same verse can and will speak to us, depending on our circumstances.

Let's look to the cow and meditate on God's Word, the way it chews its cud!