Song of Solomon 2:15 – “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”
THEME OF THE DAY. BE MINDFUL OF LITTLE NEGLECTS. I remember it happened to a dear brother and friend I knew in the Navy. We spent a lot of time together. Spiritually, I was his mentor. I recall daily interactions with him. I would smile over the excitement of the discoveries of the Lord he was experiencing and sharing. As for Bible studies? First one there, last one to leave. Same with prayer meetings and weekly services on the ship. Faithful to the “t” was this dear brother. And he was determined to lead his family in the things of the Lord. He simply was a young man on fire for the Lord, but with not much knowledge of the scripture, the tactics of the devil, the power of the flesh, and the allurements of the world. Then what I feared began to happen. I didn’t see him every day on the ship. Attending Bible studies and prayer meeting begin to wane. Sunday faithfulness to church also began to suffer. When I would see him, he attempted to avoid me as if embarrassed and ashamed which he was. It wasn’t long till no spiritual engagements happened. He simply isolated himself from his Christian brothers and became a backslider. King Solomon tells us about the sad condition of a backslider . . . “The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways” (Proverbs 14:14a). My friend was engulfed with the fruit of his own ways and it eventually led to wrecking his family. And such an arrival point of spiritual destruction never comes suddenly. No one becomes a backslider or spiritually indifferent suddenly. It occurs little by little. The scripture of the day is a wonderful word picture of what produces a Christ-dishonoring backslider; the little foxes that spoil literal vineyards illustrate the little spiritual neglects that spoil the spiritual vineyard of a tender heart toward the Lord.
The first “little spiritual fox” of spiritual neglect setting one down the path to becoming a backslider is start missing daily times in the Word and prayer seeking the Lord. Or if we do have those times, they are rushed, not meditated upon, and never make it into our lives by steps of obedience. Neglect one day due to busyness, and another day gets tacked on easily. Soon days turn to weeks and spiritual hunger for God sprouts wings and departs the heart. Now the floodgate to becoming a backslider is wide open and the “rushing waters” of the devil, flesh, world, and self-justification fill the heart.
From this “little spiritual fox” in the backslider comes neglect of church. The backslider does not safeguard the Lord’s Day. It is okay to miss church. It is okay to fill the Lord’s Day with worldly activities. It is okay to “do church” in the privacy of our home. It is okay to occasionally take “time off” church. Friends, none of those are okay before the Lord (Hebrews 10:24-25). He sets aside one day a week for His purposes and our good. And His purpose on the Lord’s Day is not to do private Christianity but to worship and grow with His people in His family. Let me ask this of us. If we had a family reunion of our dearly loved physical family members, would we willfully miss it? Of course not. Not only would it be rude, but we look forward to it and wouldn’t miss it for the world. That same mindset, even greater, is to be applied to our spiritual family on every Lord’s Day. We are coming to a family reunion every week with our forever family, but the backslider is oblivious to this New Testament truth. New Testament Christianity is never a private thing, but a community thing, and the backslider will be blind to his or her direct disobedience to honor the Lord’s Day as His Day with His people.
A final “little spiritual fox” spoiling the backslider’s heart is spirit of defensiveness or justification. I finally “cornered” my backsliding Navy brother. And all I heard was excuses, justifications, and a real spirit of defensiveness over his falling away. He was not open to correction. A backslider is full of pride or as Solomon says, “filled with his own ways” and unless the Spirit of God is working, the backslider will always be combative and self-justifying in his or her actions. And remember, it all started by “little spiritual foxes.” Keep the vineyard of our heart free from them. They will slowly, but surely, shipwreck our faith if we allow them.
PRAYER: “Father, help me never to compromise in any area of my walk with You. It begins the journey to backsliding.”
QUOTE: “Spiritual disaster does not happen immediately. It begins by slow spiritual neglect of known duties”