Vision of the Pigs
Spontaneous Ponderings
Lately I’ve been thinking about pigs. Let me tell you why.
On November 16, 2023, I had a vision. It lasted all of about 2 seconds. Usually when I think of the Lord speaking to me, I assume it will be words. This time, he gave me a picture.
Two pigs, wrestling in the mud.
That’s it. That’s all I got. What in the world does that mean? In the Bible, whenever God gives a vision or dream, he also gives an interpretation. Just look at the stories of Joseph or Daniel. So I went to the Bible for some clues.
But before I get into that, let’s back up a bit, and I’ll give you some backstory on why this vision was important in my life.
My Struggles
The last few years, I’ve been trying to improve in two main areas: food habits and my marriage. When it comes to food, I have been slowly gaining weight. Most of the time I’m still in the “normal” BMI range, but I’ve crept up higher, even spending a few weeks in the low end of the “overweight” BMI category. It’s gotten harder and harder to NOT be obsessed with food. My brain frequently tells me that I need to be eating, even if I’m not hungry at all. I’ve been through several diet options, anti-diet programs, and other things that have helped me develop some good habits and mindsets, but I couldn’t seem to get over that obsession with food. The more I tried, the worse it seemed to get. I still craved all the junk food. Whenever I had a whim to eat something, I would. And any weight that I lost would come back, sometimes even more than what I lost. I didn’t know how to change this thought pattern that kept me stuck. I tried to give it over to God, but the next time I had a whim to eat something, I would. Nothing seemed to work.
The other thing I’ve been working on is my marriage. I love my husband. We have a great relationship. We like spending time together. We are on the same page in a lot of areas that other couples struggle with. But like every other couple, we have issues that seem to repeatedly come up. The one I’ve been struggling with the most is more of a mental issue on my end, but I know that it affects my actions and responses in a way that causes hurt. I don’t want to respond or act in the way that I do, but it’s often an instinct or natural response. It’s like Paul wrote in Romans 7:15: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” And also like Paul, I know that this is due to my sinful nature. It’s something I’m trying to overcome, but it’s been a work in progress and I’m still not where I want to be.
My New Practice
Over the last few weeks, I’ve started a new practice of “Coffee with Jesus.” Of course, I’m not a coffee drinker (or tea drinker), so I’ve substituted water (my drink of choice – my husband says I have to be careful that Jesus doesn’t turn my water into wine! 😊). Each morning, I get some water for me and some water for Jesus, and I invite him to spend some time with me over Bible reading, prayer, and journaling. This has been a very meaningful practice, and there are days when I can physically feel him in the room with me. One morning, I even imagined him sitting there waiting for me, excited like a kid on Christmas morning to spend time with me.
Psalm 63
Then a couple weeks ago, during our youth group worship night, one of the leaders had us choose a psalm between Psalm 62-65 and write one truth about God that we found in that psalm. I chose Psalm 63. A few phrases from this psalm really jumped out at me:
1 You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Look at the words that David uses in this psalm. He seeks God. He thirsts for God and clings to him. He thinks about him all the time. And I asked myself, does that describe me and my relationship with God? Most of the time, the answer is no. I’ve gotten significantly better over the last few years while writing Grounded in the Bible, but I’m still not at that level where I long to spend time with him all the time.
Then a couple other words jumped out at me. First, earnestly in verse 1. For these two areas that I’ve struggled in – food and marriage – have I truly, earnestly sought God to help me in those areas? Yes, I’ve prayed. I’ve given it some face time before God. But have I earnestly sought his help? The answer was no.
And have I truly allowed God to fully satisfy me (verse 5)? Or am I looking for other things to satisfy me, like food? Again, I had to admit that I wasn’t giving God the place he deserved in my life or in my relationship with my husband.
My Vision
The next morning after reading Psalm 63, I continued to dwell on these verses and earnestly sought God during my morning “Coffee with Jesus” time. I poured out my heart to him, asking him to take over and help me in these areas of my life. I didn’t hold anything back. And, although it seemed surprising at the time, I guess maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. God gave me a vision of two pigs, wrestling in the mud. It was just a brief picture in my mind, but it was so out of the blue that it could only be from God.
Vision Interpretation: Food
OK, so I had this vision. What did it mean? As I sat and pondered what those two pigs in the mud could mean, I started thinking about Bible stories about pigs. The first one that came to mind was the prodigal son who ran away from home, squandered all his money, and ended up tending pigs (Luke 15:11-32). He was so hungry that he wanted to eat the slop that the pigs were eating. Eventually, he remembered his life at home and realized that even his father’s servants had more to eat than they needed. He humbly went home, hoping that he could get a job as a servant in his father’s house. And what happened? His father welcomed him home and threw a party for him with the choicest of food.
My brain immediately connected this to my issues with food. I realized that by constantly choosing to eat too much, by constantly choosing to snack and eat out, by constantly choosing unhealthy food over healthy food, I was choosing pig slop just like the prodigal son, when I had a whole feast of choice foods as an option. God has provided me with plenty of food to eat, and plenty of food choices. He has blessed us in that way. I know not everyone can say that. And yet even with that blessing and provision, I kept choosing the slop. It was a totally new way of thinking about food for me. My food choices since then haven’t been perfect, but I’ve noticed in small ways that my mindset about food is just different. I can more easily forego snacks or dessert. I can more easily wait to eat until my next meal. I don’t know where this will take me, especially since we are headed into the holidays. I don’t expect that I will eat perfectly from now to the rest of my life, but I do know that I don’t want to go back to craving the slop.
Vision Interpretation: Marriage
That’s about where my thoughts on pigs ended during my prayer time, but then I went running. And that pig vision stayed with me. I kept pondering it in my mind. When God gave me the vision, I was praying about both food issues and my relationship with my husband. So I wondered if the vision could have a second meaning that applied to my marriage. Again, I went back to the Bible. What else does the Bible say about pigs? Then God brought the passage to mind about tossing your pearls to swine:
Matthew 7:6: “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
God has made marriage to be a sacred covenant between a man and a woman. It is something precious that he has given us. He led me to a wonderful Christian man who has so many good qualities. And by letting my internal struggles dictate my actions and responses in a negative way, I was throwing that precious gift to the pigs.
What should I be doing instead? This led me to another passage:
Matthew 13:45-46: 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
I should be valuing this relationship so much that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to invest in it. I should think of my husband as a pearl of great price—something precious that God has given to me as a gift. I need to care for that pearl and make sure that it is safe and treasured.
Now, I can’t say that I’ve done everything perfectly in these two areas since having this vision. But it has given me a lot to think about, and I can see a way forward for improvement in both areas, with God by my side.
Wider Application
Then I got to thinking about the wider application of this vision. When it comes to life, we usually improve or grow by stopping something we shouldn’t be doing (i.e., stopping a bad habit) or by starting something we should be doing (i.e., starting a good habit). This vision, and the two associated parables, address both of these.
If you want to improve or grow by stopping a bad habit, think about the bad habit as pig slop and the better alternative as God’s great feast. Why would you choose the pig slop over the great feast that God has prepared for you?
If you want to improve or grow by starting a good habit, think about the good habit as a pearl of great price. Why would you throw that precious pearl to the pigs? Wouldn’t it be better to do everything you can to get that pearl and treasure it?
That’s where my thoughts have been for the last several days. And that’s my challenge to you. What are you treasuring that you shouldn’t? What are you not treasuring that you should? Either way, the vision of the pigs can help you turn that part of your life around, just as I’m hoping it will do for me. And as a Christian, hope isn’t just a wish. It is an eager expectation that God will do as he has promised. We can depend on him to fulfill that promise because he is faithful.
I am proud of you and your desire to seek God's help. I pray that God will give you wisdom and strength.
Your insight about the pigs is very helpful.