Some years ago, a brother gave a teaching on the little foxes that we read about in the Song of Songs. It was a very timely and powerful message, because at that time the church, which was only young, was going through a crisis. We were exhorted to be aware of the little foxes that come to snatch away the fruit before it has time to develop on the vine. Just this past week, it dawned on me that God has supplied His people with a mighty, powerful spiritual weapon with which to guard and defend the church from such little foxes. But first, let’s examine what these little foxes might be.

In Song of Songs, the ‘beloved’ of the Shulamite woman tells her that the blossoms have already appeared in the land, the fig tree has ripened its fruit, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. This certainly speaks of fresh growth with abundant potential waiting to burst forth with life that will bless the vinedresser and others. We know that before there is fruit, there is a flower on the vine, and these were in full fragrance, indicating that they were almost at the imminent stage of bearing fruit! He beckons her to come along with him to tend to the vineyards, as though this is a thrilling adventure in which she is invited to share. One can sense his anticipation and joy at the thought! But, in verse 15, he exhorts his lover to catch the little foxes, which are described as treacherous critters that are destroying the vineyards while the vineyards are in blossom. They posed a serious threat.

“My beloved responded and said to me, ‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. ‘For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. ‘The flowers have already appeared in the land; The time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. ‘The fig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along!’ “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret place of the steep pathway, Let me see your form, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your form is lovely.” “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, while our vineyards are in blossom.” (Song of Songs 2:10-15)

It is interesting that Song of Songs describes the foxes as ‘little’ foxes. We all know the cunning nature of a fox, but the deliberate mention of these as ‘little’ speaks of a few things: Young foxes can be particularly problematic because they are small and harder to notice. They could get through small gaps in walls or fences and move among the vines without being detected as easily. By bringing our attention to ‘little’ foxes, the writer addresses our tendency to consider certain threats by the enemy as insignificant; not enough of a threat to be concerned about, even going unnoticed. The writer is warning us to pay careful attention to them, though they seem small, because the intention of these ‘little’ foxes is to destroy the vineyard before it can bear fruit. They sneak their way in among the saints during the blossoming season.

When everything looks and feels full of life and like we’re about to move into a joyous season of growth, and we can see all God’s plans coming together and the pieces of the jigsaw starting to fit, and there’s a sense that God’s desire being met is just around the corner, this is a very vulnerable time. We need to seriously be on our guard.

Major threats against the church are often obvious, and will rally a unified stand through holding fast to the head, prayer and fasting. But the little foxes will generally be related to our uncrucified flesh, making them less recognisable. Because we all have blind spots and are susceptible to pride, they are easily disguised as disagreements or error among the saints. Little foxes will be things like:

• spiritual pride
• majoring on minors
• suspicion among the saints
• believing the worst
• gossip
• cliques
• mistrust
• offense
• leaving matters unresolved
• imputing evil to another’s heart.

In sum, these result from regarding one another according to the flesh and not the Spirit. But these awful things do not have to progress another inch. They don’t have to be let loose to ruin God’s vineyard; they can be caught early, and it is our responsibility to catch these little destroyers so we can run with our beloved and share in his delight over his fruitful vineyard.

God has invested a lot of time and energy, not to mention the very life of His own son, into the church, and this is shadowed in the natural vineyard. In the natural sense, growing a vine takes a long time and a lot of work. Let’s take a look at the process as it was in ancient times:

• Choose suitable land
• Clear the land
• Prepare the soil
• Plant grapevines
• Space the vines
• Build a protective wall or fence
• Build a watchtower
• Provide supports for the vines
• Prune and cultivate the vines
• Protect the grapes
• Wait for the grapes to ripen (it can take 4-7 years for a good crop)
• Harvest the grapes
• Prepare a winepress
• Process the grape juice
• Maintain the vineyard year after year

This demonstrates a spiritual reality. God takes the necessary time to prepare His church and its individual members to bear fruit. He invests a lot in us! There is a great deal at stake when it comes to the blossoming season, and all hands need to be on deck to protect that spiritual vineyard and see it through to a plentiful harvest for the Lord.

Song of Songs presents us with a spiritual lesson. What can we do when we discover that what we thought were simply personality clashes are actually little spiritual foxes sent to undermine the church? Well, we can reverse these threatening circumstances by doing to the little foxes exactly as they have intended to do to the church. At the first sign of them, we need to nip things ‘in the bud’. If we leave it, it will be too late, and all potential in what God is doing and wanting among a people will come to nothing.

So, how does the church, and how do we as individuals, catch these little foxes? Below are a few specific needs we must meet to achieve that goal.

1. First, we need to understand how important the church is to God. We need to cry out for revelation and understanding, desiring to see the church as He does. We need to ask the Lord to give us that heart that will take up His invitation to run with Him into His beautiful, prized vineyard to care for and nurture it, to guard and protect it. If we don’t see the church through His eyes, we will lack that motivation and passion and think of the church in mere natural terms, interpreting the troubles as natural rather than spiritual. That will not protect the church and will serve her a great injustice.
2. We need to discern the season. With Christ as our head, the church that is being built together must be spiritually aware of what the Lord is doing among us. We need to wait upon the Lord, listen to His voice, listen for Him in one another, weigh up what is being shared, and observe Him in each other’s lives. We need to pay attention to what is happening corporately. We need to pray for wisdom and seek His mind on where the church is at and what He is doing in her.
3. We need to discern the presence of the little foxes. Discernment requires a daily intimate relationship with Jesus. We become so familiar with what is of Christ that we can far more readily detect a spiritual intruder. Even if we can’t quite pinpoint it, we sense it, and that’s all we need to send us into the prayer closet, or to gather the church together to pray.
4. As mentioned, we need to reverse the current circumstances. Where there is offence, we need to confess it and deal with it. Where forgiveness is needed, we need to humbly ask for it or give it. Where there is suspicion or agreement with the enemy’s accusations against another saint, we need to reject it utterly. Where there are cliques, we need to break out of our comfort zone and spend time with other brothers and sisters we normally wouldn’t spend time with. We need to repent before God, turn to the Lord in agreement with Him and see and treat our spiritual family as just that: sons and daughters of our Father, the God who created each of us in His image. We must agree with Him to see and know one another according to the Spirit that we share.

Well, it’s all very well to say what we ‘must’ do, or what ‘needs’ to happen in order to catch the little foxes. While the above describes the needs and some practicalities of what it looks like to move in that direction, there is one major way that will deal with all the above in one fell swoop. It is the most efficient way. It is God’s way. It is the perfect way…

Recently, a friend of mine was engaged in some increasingly uncomfortable ‘religious’ discussions among a bunch of saints. Nobody said anything obviously offensive or took obvious offence, but there was a general sense of divisiveness. It seemed like some were hedging around things without just speaking outright. Interestingly, and this is where discernment comes in, a very important event for these saints was coming up on the calendar, and much prayer had gone into this event. It would have served the devil well to see this little fellowship crumble before that event came to pass.

Thankfully, my friend stepped back to look at everything from a more objective standpoint and take in the whole picture. That’s what agreement with God looks like: putting our agendas aside and seeking God’s mind on the matter. After some time, it became clear that satan was up to his wiles. There were little foxes trying to come into the vineyard and snatch away the fragrant blossoms before the fruit appeared on the vine. Foxes have an acute sense of smell, you see. They pick up on the scent and come running, and the devil and his minions are just the same, which is why the use of this analogy in Song of Songs is so pertinent.

Having recognised the enemy’s intentions, my friend decided to deny their own thoughts, opinions, and preferences, open their heart, and leave no room for agreement with the devil. With plenty of time before the upcoming calendar event, they dealt with the matter by rejecting the temptation to side with the accuser and simply picked up the phone to say hi to one of the saints. This cleared the spiritual atmosphere and settled the accusations.

Pow!

This is what I was pondering this week, when it hit me: the way to protect the church from the little foxes is to embrace the cross. Embracing the cross deals with our soul-life, our pride, our suspicions, our offences, our disappointments and arguments, which can all be provoked and stirred up by the enemy. Embracing the cross absolutely denies passageway for those little foxes. It cuts them off at the path. It chases them away! They can’t bear to be in its presence. What a mighty weapon we have been given! A weapon that is not carnal but indeed mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, and little foxes!

God has given us the same weapon He used to destroy His enemies, and to make a spectacle of them. The cross of Jesus Christ borne in our own lives is the way to defeat the enemy and bring us into victory over his schemes. As we deny our strong inclination to defend ourselves and our views, and deny any critical and suspicious thoughts against our brothers and sisters, we slam shut the gate on the foxes. I have experienced this in my own life. It is a powerful reality. I’ve seen things that could have exploded completely dissipate. Bearing the cross is extremely difficult, because anything that requires denial of ourselves will be difficult. It will work against our flesh, and our flesh won’t like it, but it will give room for the Spirit of Jesus Christ! Embracing the cross is how we defend the church. It safeguards her. It protects our brothers and sisters, and ourselves!

The cross for the individual, and the cross for the corporate body of Christ, is the greatest gift that leads us into victorious living in Jesus and toward God having the desires of His heart obtained. If we will only embrace it—it is a most wonderful gift!