Long road trips were a wonderful part of my existence as a child. Every August, we would pack up the station wagon and head to Colorado for vacation. Our family took full advantage of lower humidity and a cooler environment, generating exciting times of exploration, outdoor activities, rest and relaxation. We had great joy as a family.

Heading through Texas to western states beyond, we saw lots of rural towns surrounded by farms and ranches. And cows. We saw lots of cows. Cows under shade trees chewing their cud.

Now, cows chew their cud so that they can better digest the plants, hay, and straw that they swallowed. Chewing the cud extracts nutrients for them. Chewing the cud is healthy for a cow. Farmers often monitor the cud-chewing activity of a herd in order to keep in touch with the health of the herd.

Chewing the cud is a good paraphrase of the Hebrew word for biblical meditation. Biblical meditation is healthy for the heart and mind of the follower of Jesus. Such meditation brings other passages of Scripture to mind, helps us understand the Word of God, and serves to embed God’s Word in our hearts and minds, changing our worldview and by extension, our behavior. We were reminded of that truth last Sunday.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:2

If you have ever thought about a verse or a passage throughout the day or more than once, you have done biblical meditation. But biblical meditation may be a spiritual discipline that you have not practiced much.  

When done consistently, biblical meditation becomes the link between theory and practice. Meditation takes our knowledge about God’s Word and makes it personal so that we can apply it. Meditation on Scripture changes us inside so that our outside looks and sounds more like Jesus, reflecting His image.

I encourage you to start. Prayerfully go to the Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to embed this Truth in your heart and mind. Pray through each word. Repeat it to yourself. Let the Holy Spirit bring other Scripture passages to mind. The biblical trails that you go down while doing biblical meditation are sustaining, strengthening, and sanctifying. I offer a personal example of biblical meditation through a link in the PS.

Love and blessings,
Dave
PS. Below, I have given you a personal example of biblical meditation on John 11:25a in a unique way.