For many years in the south we have used the term, “Let’s chew the cud.” To us it means to take time to seriously “howdy” and think about what is being heard. Chew the cud is also mentioned in the Bible. “Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud… that shall ye eat” (Lev.11:3). Camels, hares, conies, deer, and cattle all chew the cud. First the cow chews grass and swallows it into a portion of her stomach. The grass becomes a cud or a ball-like glob. Later the cow regurgitates or belches up the cud to chew it a second time. She then re-swallows it to another part (a cow has one stomach with four sections) of her stomach which will process and digest it to give her nourishment into her body. Chew the cud can be compared to Bible studying. Some read the Bible but are never nourished. Sheep need to be both led and fed.
So chew the cud means you first (chew) read it and then think (swallow) about it. Later you (belch it up) to meditate, rethink, and consider what you heard or read. (Reminds me of a church bulletin: Tonight come and hear missionary Erma Belch all the way from Africa). Anyway! After you belch it up (ugh), chew (study) it again slowly (aaah) then re-swallow it. This time it will enter into your heart and mind to be digested and become a part of you and your life. The Scriptures slowly nourish and transform us into healthy spiritually mature Christians.
The world conforms us but the Word of God transforms us (Rom. 12:1-2). The Word of God transforms us into productive Christians. “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil.4:9). It is sad that this modern technology age has bypassed chewing the cud with instant quickly-fading information that produces under nourished weak Christians. Many college students confess that their generation relies primarily upon instant information that is never mentally processed into knowledge. Information is available but not adsorbed.
There is no substitute for searching the Scriptures. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life…” (I Jn 5:13). “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (I Pet. 2:2). As you know, you grow. Stop knowing and you stop growing. Remember, no one can grow without the Word of God – No one includes you. So as we study our Bibles, as we say in Trenton, “Let’s chew the cud!”
Timely Thought: Without the Word of God there is no Work of God – TC
