Wallowing is not a pretty word. Quite the opposite, as it evokes images of pigs rolling around in mud. It lends itself to filth. However, for many animals, wallowing is essential to their well-being. They get down in the muck and coat their bodies to stay cool and keep bugs away. There have even been studies done on why pigs wallow even in colder temperatures, and the highly scientific conclusion is that they like it.
Humans wallow in a different way that’s neither pretty nor helpful, but equally filthy. We sink into our self-doubt, pity, and self-loathing and roll around in them until we are completely bathed in their stink. Does this protect us? Make us feel better? Do we like it?
I don’t think so because every time I’ve found myself wallowing, all it’s done is submerge me up to my eyeballs in self-destructive negativity like a trap. Or like that quicksand the youth of the ’80s were warned about, we flail about in our self-made mud pits, plummeting deeper into despair by the minute. We don’t wallow because we love misery. We sink because we don’t know what else to do with the ache. Disappointment hurts. Failure stings. Betrayal leaves residue.
I’ve had setbacks, felt disillusioned and without purpose. I’ve made mistakes that seemed so monumental I couldn’t see a way forward from them. What I should have done time and again is lay those burdens at the feet of my Savior, dust myself off and say, “There’s no time to lose, sister, let’s get on with it.” Instead, I’ve wallowed in disappointment, frustration, and failure, too afraid to do anything else because what if I fail again? What if I mess up even worse the next time?
Hear this, friends: we can’t avoid new pain by steeping ourselves in old pain. Maybe life hasn’t worked out the way you’d hoped and you’re doing some wallowing of your own. The good news is that Jesus doesn’t stand at the edge of the pit tapping His foot. He steps into our mess. Scripture shows us a Savior who touched lepers, knelt in the dirt, and carried a cross for people who repeatedly failed. He is not repelled by our mud. He is not shocked by our mistakes nor exhausted by our struggles. He is the One who reaches down, takes hold of our hands, and offers us living water, just as He did for the woman at the well (John 4).
It’s time for us to speak truth over ourselves and let Jesus pull us out of the muck. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that God knows His plans for each of us, “plans to prosper and not to harm [us], plans to give [us] hope and a future.” Philippians 1:6 also says God, “who began a good work in [us] will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.”
Those are not wallowing words; they are life-giving words! Wallowing is good for pigs but not for people. Don’t let the grime of your past keep you in a pit when God has so much more planned for you.