Regurgitation

Psalm 23:1  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psalm 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Psalm 23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Psalm 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psalm 23:5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Psalm 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. 

Psalm 23 is one of the most important psalms in the Bible. I bet a lot of us even know it by heart. As kids we learnt to memorize it. Psalm 23 gives a detailed list of the responsibilities of God our Shepherd towards us His sheep.

About a year ago i started looking at the sheep. It is not enough to look at the responsibilities of the Shepherd, because we are not that Shepherd here, indeed none of us has the capacity to carry the task listed in Psalm 23 but we are the sheep. One important characteristic of the sheep that i remembered really quickly is REGURGITATION. And this is what today's post is about.

We learnt that while sheep eat, they simply swallow and not totally chew food, they then store what they eat in one of the four compartments in their stomach. Then later when they have a quiet place to lie down they will start to regurgitate, i.e they will begin to bring all they have eaten back to their mouths and now properly chew it and digest it. I think i did well with that layman's definition, but i believe you get the idea of it all.

Psalm 23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 

Every now and then, the Lord (SHEPHERD OF OUR SOULS) makes us lie down to eat of His good Word and He leads us to be washed by His Word. We attend Churches, seminars, listen to messages on TV, internet, etc, we share the word with friends and all of that. We do a lot of attending, listening and sharing. We don't do the lying down just as often. Note that this is when a sheep regurgitates. After you have heard all the different sermons, principles and doctrines, there is need to lie down and revisit them, re-chew them, ruminate over them and re-think over them. Test all! When you lie down with the Shepherd, you should re-study all you heard and read that was presented to you as the word of your Shepherd.
John 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Act 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 

The Berean Christians exemplified this issue. Despite the efficacy and credibility of Apostle Paul's message, they still sought to lie down and check with the Shepherd after they have being taught. 
Do you regurgitate? It has become so important these days because of a lot of errors, deceit and false doctrines are being thrown around. Did you recheck all that the writer wrote in the last book you read? The bible says "Test ALL spirits". Test all books, sermons and every source of knowledge. Guard your heart with all diligence. (Pro 4:23)

Have you ever wandered why we fall for some doctrines in the past and even now? It is because they are very similar to the truth, very identical but probably 1% different from it. That difference is huge and significant to the marking scheme of Heaven but usually unnoticed by the earthly. There are many books and messages out there that have 1% or more deviation from the truth. It might produce the desired result but Heaven marks it wrong in eternal value. How do you identify the difference? God told Moses "speak" to the rock but he "struck" it with his rod instead, yet the result was the desired result......water but how many noticed he failed the marking scheme of the examiner. Everyone rejoiced at the sight of water and the miracle. May we not be carried away by results and miracles in Jesus name. Lets always check. If you are a Preacher always check, if you are the listener do so too.

A lot of Christians will not check because they seldom LIE DOWN. A sheep won't regurgitate until He has found a quiet place to lie still. Learn to have a quiet time each day to check your values and principles you want to live by in the light of God's word for you. Regularly have retreats to re-chew those things you hurriedly picked up during the week in this our fast-paced world.

And do regurgitate on this post too. God bless you.
SHALOM!