“Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vine, for our vines have tender grapes.” - (Songs of Solomon 2:15) IMPLICATION: The fascinating love story in Solomon’s song contains many intriguing pictures. One is of a beautiful vineyard in early spring. The vines, however, are threatened by little foxes that come in to eat the tender grapes before they are ripe. Thus comes the plea to capture (“take”) the foxes and prevent them from spoiling the vineyard. An obvious spiritual application is to the subtle danger of so-called “little sins” that undermine a believer’s love and service for his Lord. If it goes unchecked it gives the adversary just enough room to come in and destroy the vines. Solomon calls to our attention that it is the little foxes that spoil the vine. This appears to be a warning to you and me. It is the little things in life that get us down -- minute - microscopic that commence to destruct our homes – destroy our relationships -- stagnate our local churches. Perhaps we spend necessary time praying and are prepared when Satan enters as a roaring Lion, we are equipped with our spiritual armour, we expect that - However, when Satan arrives as a Little Fox – little situation – we find we are not adequately prepared. I know that sounds like a Contradiction, but I encourage you to think of it... These little foxes have a tremendous advantage. Not expected to have much Consequence - unglued – not expected to knock a marriage out of commission – not expected to end relationships - not expected to spiritually kill a church - We display the attitude that it is just a little/trivial thing. The fox is a rather peculiar animal. - It derives its name from its tendency to dig underground to settle in holes or burrows or to feast on grapevines. - It is silent and solitary. It has an incredible sense of sight, smell, and hearing. - It exhibits tremendous cleverness in going after its prey. At times, it will actually play dead in order to attack a bird which is within its striking range. When hunted, it is very cunning, devious, and capable of misleading its pursuers with utmost skill. Resultantly, it has always been considered as an emblem of slyness - cunning - craftiness - mischief. • Fox is Fast • Fox is Slick • Fox is Sneaky • Fox is Little • Fox is Adorable . Fox is attractive • Fox is Cute • Because of its cuteness we don’t take it seriously • Decoy so we don’t see how dangerous it really is • Cunning more dangerous We tend to underestimate the smaller things in life. The atom bomb was a small object yet brought the nation of Japan to surrender in just a few minutes. A flea is very small but enough of them can kill the largest dog. The termite is a very small insect, but it can destroy a three story house if ignored. Solomon warns of the “Little foxes”. In this passage of Scripture we see the principle of little things. If we ignore the little things they will someday grow up and become “big things”, and then they will present us a great problem. • Children when little, talk back – Cute • Children when little, use Bad Language – Cute • Children when little, they Dance, Shake, Gyrate - Cute • But one day they will grow up and it’s no longer Cute……… The children of God generally do not fall into great and well known sins, but there are sins that we commit often, according to the Word of God. These sins are like little foxes which spoil the vine and our lives -- and we become fruitless.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 12:38:04 +0000
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