“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines; for our vines have tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.” Song of Solomon 2:15,16

Ah the little foxes, all the little things that stand in the way of us abiding in the one true vine, Jesus. We try to nurture that vine, care for it, feed it, water it and protect it at all costs. Make sure it gets plenty of light from the “Son” and do all we can to ensure it’s growth, we stake it and trellis it up in faith that it will stand  against any bad weather and beating storms that may try to tear it down. 

But truly, the most formidable  enemy against our vine are those dastardly little foxes. Think about them, unlike wolves who often come off ravenous and you know what they are all about, foxes are cute, little and furry and they sneak right on in, often they pretend to be your friend or even spiritual sibling but all they really want is for you to take your eyes off that vine for one second and they will tear it all to Hades.

It’s not because they want the fruit either it is just the thrill of the destruction, and the attention they gain by aggravating someone else unmercifully, because they have determined that you will pay attention to them one way or another, and they tug and they chew, and they  trample the vines and destroy all the new fruit as fast as it starts to bud.

They only come along to wreck havoc on those vines and as we become exhausted trying to chase them away, we become not much better than they, because after awhile anger starts setting in  because of their tenacity and their refusal to just give up and our flesh wants to resort to tactics that only they can understand.

The other unpleasant aspect to dealing with foxes is they never come alone, they themselves are prey to parasites all their own, spiritual fleas that if we do not err on the side of caution, we will become infested with the “fleas” that jump from them straight  onto us. Spiritual fleas that come in the form of anger, resentment, pettiness and a desire for revenge on these little monsters. When God says we must live as peaceably as we as possible with everyone.

So what do we do? Hide in the place of being fed by the Shepherd among the lilies, the place of love and beauty, safety and peace, while He deals with catching those foxes for you because only He can, never give them place as hard as that is, just take  your trouble to him and let him handle them and never get close enough to catch their fleas!

Φλογιζω/ Reverend Nina BrownJohnson 2015. all rights reserved