SONG OF SOLOMON 2:15 – “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”
Charles Spurgeon commented on today’s scripture with these words, “A little thorn can cause much suffering. A small cloud may hide the sun. Tiny foxes spoil the vineyards; and little sins do mischief to the tender heart. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable.”
There is a high probability none of us are going to go into our day planning a murder, committing adultery, or being vicious, malicious, and scheming in our speech to purposely and seriously hurt someone. No, we likely will not bring our hearts into a spiritual condition characterized by lack of joy, peace, rest, and a cooling of our affections for Christ, His Word, His church, and prayer to know Him. It will be the “little foxes”, the so called “little sins” which brings upon us such a backslidden condition.
So, what are some of the “little foxes” wreaking havoc in our spiritual lives if we don’t capture and keep them caged up? Here is a starting list . . .
The first little fox spoiling our walks with the Lord is speech that is cutting, discouraging, and doesn’t lift the hearer up – Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29). More Christians lose their joy in the Lord because of an uncontrolled tongue. Daily ask the Lord for “tongue control” and then diligently guard our heart from which speech comes.
Another little fox bringing damage to our testimonies for the Lord is the sin of impatience. Yes, impatience is not only the flawed character trait in the world, but an easily tolerated sin in the lives of God’s people. Let impatience rule and we will go stale in our spiritual lives. Jerry Bridges, in his excellent book Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate, defined impatience as “a strong sense of annoyance at the (usually) unintentional faults and failures of others. This impatience is often expressed verbally in a way that tends to humiliate the person (or persons) who is the object of the impatience. The actual cause of our impatience lies within our own hearts, in our own attitude of insisting that others around us conform to our expectations.” The sin of impatience would really be the sin of being unloving – Love is patient and kind (1 Corinthians 13:4a).
A third little fox bringing trouble into our spiritual lives would be busyness. This may seem like a little sin but it is not. It is a spiritual life killer and Jesus warns Martha and us about this “little fox” – Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42).
PRAYER: “Father, place a guard on my heart that I might be sensitive to all sin and backslidings against You.”
QUOTE: “Beware of tolerance of any sin for even the slightest one will deaden our fellowship with the Lord.”