Little Foxes
“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” Song of Solomon 2:15
In the New Testament, Jesus teaches that He is the vine and we are the branches, and that we cannot bear fruit apart from Him. God desires for us to live a life of fruitfulness, a life of tangible examples of being rooted in Him. Some of these fruits are a life filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the fruits of the spirit and they are a direct product of the Holy Spirit living inside of you. But sometimes our lives don’t always look like the words listed above.
How often do you find the smallest things in life getting to you? Think of the little things that get to you- small situations, acts, sins that interfere with our days. Although they seem small, these can hold great power.
In the Old Testament, God related these things to “little foxes” that get into a garden and can ruin the whole vineyard. If we aren’t careful, we can let things that seem minute sneak their way into our hearts and stop the blossoming, the life in our heart. Some of these things may look like talking back to our parents, getting wrapped up in gossip and a petty fight, or being obsessed with our outward appearance. As we begin to little by little let these things in, they can cause huge rifts in our lives. Because you see, although they are small they hold a lot of power because of where they are taking root.
In a garden, you wouldn’t have as much of an issue if you had some foxes eating the fruit of your branches or the leaves of the stems. The real issue comes when the pesky foxes get into the roots- that’s where the real damage occurs because that’s where the life is sustained.
In the same way, the trivial things that seem to interfere with our lives are often much bigger signs of things taking up root in your heart. These are the parts of us that need the most protecting. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
If we don’t have the fences up guarding our hearts from the little foxes of life, eventually we realize we aren’t seeing as much fruit around us. These small interferences might not appear detrimental on the outside, like a little fox, but they can do major damage in our hearts and ruin the gardens and fruitfulness of our lives.
Thankfully, the old testament writer gives us a weapon against the foxes that are greater than any fence of pesticide for us. He just asks God to catch the foxes for us. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus we have a Savior who has already conquered all of the little foxes of life in the end. We just need to trust in Him and lean on the Holy Spirit to create lives of fruitfulness through us.