Chewing God’s Word and Swallowing His Revelation

David W Palmer

(Ephesians 3:14–19 DKJV) “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, … (16) That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. (17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, {18} may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; {19} and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

The apostle Paul knew the momentous importance of Christians becoming strong in their inner man. That’s why he sent the Ephesian believers God’s word in the form of a letter (spiritual food to feed their spirits), and covered it with the prayer in this Scripture. In the prayer, he asks God to strengthen them with might by his spirit in their inner man.

Paul says the first objective was so that Christ (or the anointed) may dwell in their hearts by faith. He then gives an additional objective: that they have their roots and foundation in Love—primarily, by understanding the [otherwise] incomprehensible love of God. This way, they would be strong in spirit.

The overall result was that they would be filled with all the fullness of God, and succeed in life. That is why we need to keep our spirits strong and well nourished.

We should follow this example. If we want to be strong spiritually, we should first pray for God’s revelation, and for his strength in our inner man. Then we should read, study, and meditate in God’s word. When the word begins to come alive to us—that is, when illumination comes—we need to swallow it into our inner man. Jesus said that this goes into our spiritual “belly”—stomach, or hollow inner cavity. This way, we will be fed spiritually. We can also drink the living water of God’s life into our spiritual stomach.

When we have digested Jesus’s words and water of life, and our spirit is well nourished and full; it overflows as ministry to others. Jesus said that if we consume what he ministers to us in the spirit, it will fill us and overflow; he described this overflow as a river of living water that flows from the depth of our being:

(John 7:37–38 DKJV) In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirsts, let him come to me, and drink. (38) He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

When I lived on my parents’ farm, I observed something in the eating habits of our cows that can help shed some additional light on this topic. I noticed that after the morning milking, they would eat grass non-stop for a couple of hours. Then in the afternoon, they would settle in the shade or lie down on the grass. They appeared to be resting, but when I looked closely, they were still chewing. Although they weren’t obtaining any new grass, they were “chewing over” what they had already retrieved from the pasture during the morning.

You see, cows have several stomachs. When they initially eat the grass, it goes into their first stomach, but that doesn’t provide them any nutrition; it’s more of a holding tank. Later, they have to chew it over or ruminate; and then it passes to the next stomach, then on into the rest of the digestive tract. My father called this, “chewing the cud.”

I believe God created cattle this way to help us understand what he means when he tells us to meditate in his word. When we hear it, or read it, we need to take it in and retain it. Then, later, like the cows, we need to chew it over. Only then will it come into the form that we can swallow into our spiritual stomach, from where it is disseminated as spiritual nutrition—life, light, health, and understanding, etc.

As a musician, I experience a similar process when learning songs. Although I can practice a song repeatedly—reading the musical charts—that doesn’t automatically mean that I know it “off by heart.” However, even without an instrument in my hands, in my inner man, I can go back through the song—imagining myself playing it. This way, the song is swallowed into my “spirit,” and I can come back to my instrument later and play it “by heart.”

This again pictures the approach we need with God’s word. After we hear it, we need to let it revolve in our mind as we mutter it and focus on it. (This is coming back to sit at Jesus’s feet in the spirit, “taking heed” to what we have heard.) Ruminating the word like this changes it to a form of the word we can swallow. Later we find ourselves quoting it by heart with passion and insight; it comes out as the Living Word. This then is ministry—the living water that overflows from our innermost being after we have been drinking the water of life that Jesus provides (John 7:38).

Today, I encourage you to do with Scripture what the cows do with their nutritious grass. Begin by reading or listening to God’s word,—taking it into to your initial memory, like the cattle’s initial consumption of the grass. Then, when a verse, phrase, or paragraph peaks your attention and grabs your interest; take it in. Learn it if you can. Then go over and over it in your mind—going through it word by word, forward and backward if necessary.

Begin to picture what it says. Allow questions it poses to form in your mind, inspiring more curiosity to seek for God’s light and clarity. Give this process time and focus until a clearer picture of it begins to form in your mind. When it does, it may surprise you; but this is the Holy Spirit beginning to feed his revelation or illumination into you. After successfully chewing it over like this, it’s time to swallow it into your spiritual stomach, to take it to heart.

The Holy Spirit may extend the range of the picture or extent of the Scripture portion that you began with. He may take you to other passages or similar stories. Under the Holy Spirit’s control, what you are seeing and hearing with him may grow into a prophetic insight about our time, a profound truth that you need to know, a prayer you need to pray, a teaching that can overflow from your spirit later, or a correction, encouragement, word of wisdom, or exhortation—whatever you need or whatever he wants to say to you.

When God’s word becomes alive like this, this is life, light, faith, etc. It will feed your inner man, strengthen your spirit, and not only be spiritual nutrition for you, but if it is treasured in your heart, it will be ready to overflow to feed and guide others as the Holy Spirit leads.

(Job 23:12 NKJV) I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.