Chewing the Cud

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Meditation chews the cud and extracts the real nutrient from the mental food gathered elsewhere.” Cud is food chewed enough to moisten and swallow into the stomach, then brought back into the mouth for further chewing. Meditation for a Christian is quiet pondering of spiritual truths.

Immediately after Jesus’ baptism, God’s Spirit rested on Him, leading Him into the wilderness for the devil to tempt Him. After fasting forty days and nights, the Bible says He was hungry (Matt 4:2), and the tempter came after Him at His most vulnerable moments. But Jesus refuted each temptation by bringing up God’s truths, and the devil left Him for a time. We must first know God’s Word to recall His truths and, like Jesus, use the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17) effectively.

As we read and ingest God’s Word, it goes into our memory banks and hearts. Meditation—chewing on His truths—is a choice; when we choose to draw aside from life’s busyness to “bring back up” truths we’ve read, studied, learned, and proved, we extract nutrients we need to grow, share with others, and be successful in our walk with the Lord. Pondering spiritual truths— “chewing the cud”—reminds us of God’s constant presence and faithfulness and equips us for spiritual battles.

Joshua challenged God’s people: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8