You replay it. You try to fix it. You fail. You replay it again.
Rumination is that cycle of trying to fix something in your mind that can’t be fixed by thinking.
Most of the time, when something goes over and over in our heads like this, it’s not voluntary. And, it’s not healthy.
You get told lots of “solutions” to rumination:
—”Replace it with better thoughts.”
—”Challenge the false assumptions.”
—”Interrupt the narrative.”
But, you often can’t apply these techniques when you’re emotionally overwhelmed. Especially if you’re tired. So, they become yet another law that you’ve failed to obey. Another reason for your psyche to crush you.
Here’s another way to look at rumination.
Rumination is an affliction. And it’s part of human suffering. Some techniques can alleviate and reduce that suffering to some degree. Just like paracetamol removes or reduces some physical pain, meditation and other mind techniques can remove or reduce some psychological pain. If you have a problem with rumination that feels overwhelming, or leads to thoughts of self-harm in any way, then please make use of the resources God has made available to you through other human beings:
—If you’re in immediate danger call 999.
—For 24/7 urgent support call the NHS Mental Health Crisis Line (111, option 2), the Samaritans (116 123) or text SHOUT to 85258.
—In Manchester you can also call Crisis Point Manchester (0161 238 5149) or Manchester Mind (0161 769 5732)
I would love to be able to say “God promises to remove this suffering from you.” But—and we have to be real here—he doesn’t. As long as we’re alive before the final day, human suffering is here to stay. And sadly, for some of us, that means the internal suffering of psychological afflictions, including rumination.
But we can understand rumination better. And the Gospel provides real hope in the midst of it.
Rumination continues because the mind is trying to find a verdict it cannot reach or enforce. Rumination is basically the mind trying to solve something that isn’t solvable by thinking. So it keeps cycling:
- replay the past → try to fix it → fail → replay again
- anticipate the future → try to control it → fail → anticipate again
It feels urgent, but it doesn’t resolve anything—so it just burns energy.
Rumination can never work, because the true verdict must come from outside of you:
in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
On the cross, Jesus took all your sin. And he took God’s wrath—his legal condemnation—that you deserve for it. In this way, God reconciled the whole world to himself. From God’s side, there is now nothing that needs to be resolved. Nothing that needs to be fixed.
So what can your thinking actually achieve?
Whatever is playing over your mind about the past—it has already been resolved by Christ on the cross. As far as God is concerned, his attitude toward you is now only positive. This is why we say at our church that God is in a good mood with you.
As far as the future is concerned, Jesus encouraged his followers not to be anxious. But, of course, hearing this itself can never remove our anxiety. The heart of Jesus’ explanation why is this:
your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. (Matthew 6:32)
We can’t control the future. God can—and he is your Father, who knows what we need. And that Father has nothing against you, because he has already reconciled the world to himself. We can’t control the future by thinking about it—the good news is that we don’t need to.
These truths and promises don’t instantly solve rumination. You may continue to struggle in this way your whole earthly life. But they do provide real hope and comfort even in the midst of every kind of suffering, including futile thought loops.
God’s attitude to you doesn’t depend on you in any way. But we don’t benefit from God’s good mood toward us unless we know his attitude and trust him.
If we continue to think that God is frustrated with us, then the work he did of reconciling us through Jesus won’t provide any comfort at all. If we can’t trust God to be good to us, then of course we’ll feel the need to take control of the narrative of our past, and the details of our future.
That’s why God gave you the church, as the place where he gives that reconciliation to you, so you can benefit from it. Come along in person any Sunday, or join online on Wednesday from anywhere:
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