Observing the Cow

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

In my opinion, every verse in the Bible applies to everyone, everywhere.

Therefore, when we read verses like 2 Timothy 2:15, Matthew 22:29, Luke 24:45, Acts 17:11, Psalm 119:11-16, and more..., that applies to all of us…not just our parents, pastors, Bible teachers, and the various other ministers throughout the world. While it is true that some have been gifted in communicating and teaching God’s Word, we are all supposed to be studying, memorizing, meditating, and discussing God’s word daily. (Deut 6:4-9)

And when Psalm 1 states that the path to be blessed by God begins with meditating on God’s word day and night, that is true for everyone. That comes easily for some people; for others, it requires a little more effort. But for all of us, discipline is the key.

I used to meditate on a fairly regular basis. However, while writing this, I suddenly realize that personal meditation is almost non-existent in my life right now. I am not sure how or when it happened, but I’ve got to step it up.

As I understand it, meditation can be better understood by observing the cow…yes, the cow--and other animals who chew the cud. The cow has four stomach compartments. After eating, the cow will regurgitate the partially digested food and chew it again to break it down even more. There is a lot of scientific stuff to be studied there, but the main point is how this relates to meditation.

"Dairy cows spend almost 8 hrs a day chewing their cuds for a total of almost 30,000 chews daily. It can be said that a content cow is one who is seen chewing her cud.
Cud chewing often can be used as an indicator of the health of a dairy herd.
Cows who do not chew their cuds enough may have lowered milk fat tests, may become lame, or have other digestive upsets…"
(http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/dairy/extension/nut00014.pdf)

Spiritually, it is just as necessary, health wise, for us to chew on God’s word as it is for the cow to chew her cud. It’s not a magic formula and one person might approach it differently than another. I think the main thing is that we must break out of the mindset that this discipline is only for the ‘professional’ Christian and/or ministers and/or those who seem to be 'gifted'. This discipline is for all Christians everywhere at all times.

We must daily ingest God’s Word, regurgitate it throughout the day, and chew on it some more. It could be a memorized verse or passage, or a familiar story…but it helps if it’s ‘fresh’. It’s not difficult to do, but it can be difficult to discipline ourselves. However, we must in order to stay on the path to Blessing.