*Editor’s note: This is the first entry in a new guest column series that will appear monthly in the Messenger.
He stuck his head out the truck window and hollered, “get that cow to the barn and let’s check her out, something is wrong with her!”
Now, I wasn’t doubting the man in the pin-striped overalls, for I was a young man, and he was an elder. But I had been raised around cattle my life to date, and I didn’t see anything wrong with her. Her head wasn’t hanging low, ears were erect, she looked good to me. Yet, I did what I was told.
So, I walked her to the barn, curious what he had seen, that I hadn’t, and didn’t. The first thing we did was check her temperature, sure enough she had a low fever. I responded in quick fashion.
“Alright, Mr. Field, how did you know there was something wrong with this cow?”
His response?
“She was only chewing her cud about 20 times; should have been closer to 50.”
What a lesson I learned that day, for he was correct. Many of you folks, including myself, have milked cows, but Fred Field from Elk Creek, Mo., was a dairyman; there is a huge difference. Anyone who knows cattle, will agree that when a cow is chewing her cud, she is content (I will come back to that word content in a moment.)
That being said, cattle are considered one of the “clean” animals in the Bible, for they chew their cud and have a cloven (divided) hoof, and “unclean” animals do not. Now, everything written in the Bible was put there for a reason; it’s not just stories for filler like some of these novels that should have been about half as thick as they are. So how can we apply this instruction of the clean and the unclean for a deeper meaning?
Now, I am no theologian – far from it – but it would seem obvious enough to me that a “clean,” and might I add “content” man, is one who chews on God’s Word, and not only chews on it, but rightly divides it (the divided hoof).
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).
That word “dividing” simply means to dissect or expound correctly. Can you imagine what the world would be like today if men would take the time every evening that they spend in front of a television, and chew on God’s Word instead? Wouldn’t people be a whole lot more content rather than filling their minds with violence, and nonsense?
Yes sir, and as I sit in the truck waiting on my wife while she gets groceries, I often find myself wanting to stick my head out the window and holler, “get that one to the barn and let’s check ’em out!”
Not been chewing on God’s Word.
Michael Everett Jones is a Texas County native, old fashioned historian and purveyor of traditional Christian values. Email ozarksgrandpajones@gmail.com.