Did you know that some animals have multiple stomachs? Cows, goats, giraffes, and many others go through a process called rumination where they chew their food and send it to their first stomach. Then it pops back into their mouths, and they chew on it some more. And this cycle continues for as many stomachs as the animal has. They do this so that they can get every last bit of nutrition out of their food.
We unfortunately, only have one stomach, but we can still ruminate—only we do it with our thoughts. There are times when something is on your mind, then you get distracted, and it will pop back up and you’ll think about it some more, and this will keep cycling. If we do this on purpose, we can call it meditating.
Meditation is something that has taken on a lot of meanings for a lot of groups. For our purpose here we will use it to simply mean intentionally taking time to think about Jesus and the scripture. One writer said when we meditate, we grow in our familiar friendship with Jesus.
When God is calling Joshua in Joshua 1:8 we read, “8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
There’s going to be a time in your life that you feel like you’ve been laid low. It is during these times that we will appreciate the effort we’ve taken to meditate on the promises of God. This all goes back to hiding God’s word in your heart, so you have it available when you need it. As we meditate/ruminate on God’s promises we can get every last bit of truth out of them.