Chewing the Cud

I was reading Psalm 1 the other day and a part of verse 2 jumped out at me. It says, "...and on his law he meditates day and night." What do you think of when you hear the word "meditate"? Perhaps the first picture that comes to mind is a person sitting with their legs crossed and their hands in the air chanting some type of mantra. Or maybe you see a monk isolated deep within a cave somewhere pouring over ancient scrolls.

A closer look at this word paints a much different picture. The word "meditate" is best translated as the English word "muse" which means to "become absorbed in thought". Interestingly, its main synonym is the word "ruminate" which comes from a Latin word which means "to chew the cud".

For those of you not familiar with chewing the cud, this is the process by which cows and a few other animals (goats, sheep, antelope) regurgitate their food repeatedly and chew on it. Without getting too complicated, the animals do this because they lack some of the necessary enzymes that most other animals have for digestion.

Now, back to Psalm 1. Biblical meditation has a lot to do with calling up (or regurgitating) God's Word that is hidden in our hearts. How's that for a word picture? I must admit, I am sometimes guilty of grazing (since we are using cow terms!) on God's word. Instead of taking the time to let God's word ruminate, I feed on appetizers and desserts. Let's face it, there is always so much competing for my time with God!

So why meditate on God's Word? Read the rest of the Psalm and you will find that this practice leads to blessing and fruitfulness. Grazing, on the other hand, leads to malnourishment. So the next time you read God's Word, take a lesson from the cow and keep on chewing.
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Sources: Webster's Third New International Dictionary, OT Hebrew Lexicon, Wikipedia