The Little Foxes

by G. Jarvie, Insein, Burma | Category: General | Jan 1963

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards."

(Song of Songs 2.15).

It is the will of God for us that we should be always rejoicing (1 Thessalonians 5.16), and yet we are sometimes sad and discouraged. It is His will that we should be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5. 18), and yet, though we have the Spirit, we are often weak and powerless. It is His will that we should be filled unto all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3.19), and yet we are often more empty than full. It is His will that Christ should dwell in our hearts through faith (Ephesians 3.17), and yet we so often lack the sweetness of His presence, and the outflow of it to others. What is the reason of our lack of joy, of power, and of love? It is true that we do have times of joy and fulness, but with many of us, this is the exception rather than the rule. Why is that so? The Song of Songs may help us here, if we know its lesson.

The Song may be variously interpreted, and the reader may have a different interpretation from the writer. On the surface it is a lovesong between Solomon and his bride, but its spiritual lesson, and the one that concerns us, is the love of the Lord for His own, not only for the Bride, the Church the Body as a whole, but for the individual believer whose heart is right with Him, for the reader and for the writer.

There is progress in the Song, the progress of love. But sometimes she hesitates to go forward at his request, and then there is backsliding." Yet for all that, her heart is fixed, and ultimately she gives her all, herself, to him, because of his love for her. On one of those occasions when he called her, she hesitated because it was mid-day, and therefore very hot. "Until the day be cool," she said, "turn," and so he went. He knew that something was hindering her from coming with him. It was a love of ease, of self. The little foxes were doing their work, and he knew it.

On another occasion he came at night, and again she demurred, because now it was night, and she was in bed (5.2). Why must he come in the heat of the day, or in the cold of night? Why not in the evening when everything was pleasant? He must prove her love!

In chapter one, verse seven, she felt that she loved him, but she was soon to learn how poor her love for him was. It well nigh disappeared when he asked her to do something which was not to her liking! So also with us. We feel sure that we love the Lord.

The Lord will often prove us in the minor irritations of life. How easy it is to be gracious and loving and pleasant when all is going well with us. But when things are otherwise, to do what pleases the Lord, that is different! Then the little foxes begin to do their work. They were there all the time, of course, unless we caught them. If they are left alone they will spoil the vineyards, and there will be little fruit for the Master in our lives. A few grapes here and there, perhaps, where there might have been the luscious bunches. A few grapes here and there! Is that all that the Master is to get from our redeemed lives? Not much joy, not much power, not much love? A little, but not much! He had rightly diagnosed her trouble. There were little foxes. What can we do with them? Catch them and end their lives! But catching foxes is not easy. They are very cunning. And to find out our own weaknesses is not easy either! It is much easier to see the weak points of others, than to see our own. But to see our own is much more important for us. When we have seen them, to deal with them is more difficult still. But they must be dealt with or they will destroy fruit in our lives. We must do as David did. We must kneel down and pray

Search me, 0 God, and know my heart:

Try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any way of wickedness in me.

And lead me in the way everlasting."

(Psalm 139.23-24).

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5.22-23). Unless these are manifest in our lives, then somewhere the little foxes are at work in our hearts.

G. Jarvie, Insein, Burma | Jan 1963
General