Holy Cow!
Holy Cow!
I like thinking about the word of God. Sometimes the strangest ideas pop up. For instance, the idea that a cow chewing on its cud is likened to man's behavior of meditating on God's word. After a cow has eaten its fill of grass or hay, some of the chewed grass is "burped" up to be chewed upon again when the cow is at rest. I know God loves cows.
They are quite remarkable animals which not only provide meat but milk and leather. The versatile milk can then used to drink, make yogurt or cheese. The processes for today's supply of milk is to be homogenized (when the fat molecules become evenly distributed) and pasteurized (sterilized in order that it kills disease-producing microorganisms). All that to say cows produce milk, and humans consume it in one form or another, just seems a perfect provision of one animal.
Cows are mature females. It has not been widely reported that they were offered as sacrifices on the altar, but bulls and bullocks (neutered bulls) were. Of course, calves (young bovines) were offered on the altar as well. So, the sacrifices were of many animals, but cows weren't commonly named as offerings, probably because they were the one's who birthed calves. These offerings were presented on behalf of either for the priests or the people.
But I digress... It is the milk I am interested in exploring for the purpose of nourishment. Since we are body, soul and spirit, we need to nurture those three aspects of ourselves. When we are born, our bodies can only tolerate ingesting milk in some form. Our systems are too delicate to process a meal of beef, veggies, fruit, or bread. We all need to begin with milk. As we grow and develop we can increase those foods in a gradual way. As our ability to chew matures, our digestion capabilities increase as well. All a part of the Divine Plan.
When Christians are young, the parents or Sunday School teachers, take the rather "meaty" biblical stories and verbally chew them like a cud, to pre-digest them for children to make them palatable, in simplified fashion in order to render them somewhat understandable or mentally digestible. It gives the child a vague comprehension of the story, which can be used as a stepping stone to biblical teachings directly from the Word, as they mature. And, just like the cow chews her cud, we hope that the children will ruminate and consider the story as awesome and want to learn more.
Several years after I had begun to seriously study the Word, the minister retired at the little church that I attended. A replacement minister was found, and several Sunday sermons were given. After the third sermon of a rather secular nature had been presented, I no longer felt I wanted to go to that church anymore, so I stopped. Approximately 3 weeks later I received a phone call from a church member who asked if I was going to be there the following week. Ultimately, I told her "no", but that I would call the minister and tell him why I wouldn't be returning. I then called the minister and told him I would not be coming back because I needed to hear the Word of God taught from the pulpit. Much to my surprise, he wished me "good luck". It was then that I realized the congregation was only being fed milk from that pulpit. It was obvious to me that those who remained supporting that church, doing little lunches and coffee hours, were still babes, and were unable to tell the difference.
The Word of God is personal. It requires a relationship between God and man. He wants to be The Only God in our lives who provides our needs. He doesn't want a fake "god" in the form of a golden calf... one that implies a perfect provision, or an idol that takes our focus from God to some other distraction like drugs, alcohol, gambling, tv, video games, cars, sports, etc. The Word calls us to "Seek ye first the kingdom of God". Those fleshly distractions from the One True God detract from His feeding our souls. He wants our attentions to be directed toward His Word and Him personally. He's already told us He's a jealous God. Don't be fooled by the milky pablum that makes us "feel" good. The devil is in the details. God wants us to read His Word, to think about it, chew on it, and extract meaning and have a relationship with Him directly in order to feed us with the mature depths of His Word. Don't be fooled by the "holy cow" sacrifice and milk of traditions that others want to feed you... Go directly to the Source, take it in and think about what you've read. He will provide you with insights and depth of understanding beyond your wildest dreams!
Got milk???