SEE the sheep and lambs! What a lot of them there are! Some of them have had their dinner and now they are lying down and resting. They are chewing their cud—digesting the food which they have eaten.
There is a lesson for us in this. How often we read hurriedly a verse or a chapter in our Bibles and then run away to our play or to our work, forgetting all about what we have read. If we were like the lambs we would keep quiet for a while after reading and think about what we have read.
This is the same to us as chewing the cud is to the lambs. It is by chewing the cud that the sheep and lambs get nourishment and strength from their food. And it is when we think and meditate on God’s Word that we get spiritual nourishment and strength.
If we read hurriedly, close the book and forget all about what we have read, we lose a great deal. We cannot grow strong in the Lord.
“Meditate upon these things.” 1 Tim. 4: 15.
There is something else this picture teaches us, and that is gentleness. We do not see any of these creatures quarreling. They all seem peaceable, as they rest quietly together. That is the way God likes to see little children, and older people, too. He wants us to be always kind and gentle, and He says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Matt. 5:99Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9).
ML 03/26/1916