The little foxes

Song 2:15Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

When we speak of enemies in the Kingdom of God, it is usually Powers and Principalities. We like to talk about rulers of Darkness and spiritual Wickedness in High Places. We speak of the Devil as a Roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. 

But in the text today we read about an enemy that doesn’t sound so dangerous, namely the little foxes. The little foxes are exactly as the word suggests… little. It is easy to fight an enemy all can see. There is no one that question if the Devil is our enemy, or that a Lion is dangerous. We all know and agree. But Salomon describes an enemy that seemingly is so little and cute and totally harmless. But they destroy the vines. They destroy the fruit. 

The enemy I want to address today is not one that can kill you, but rather one that destroys your fruit. We are called to bare fruit, and that is our main purpose in life. Not just to stay alive. If you have trouble to bare fruit, it might be because of the little foxes. The small things that seems innocent and harmless. It can be all the things that steal our time like social medias, entertainment, news, or even hobbies. None of them wrong it itself, but if not careful they steal our time. 

Once there was a teacher that took out a jar, filled with rocks, and asked his class if it was full. They all agreed it was full. Then he poured sand into the jar and asked again if it was full. Again the class responded that now indeed it was full. Then he poured water into it and asked again if it was full, and again they admitted that now for sure it was full. The moral of the story was to first fill your life with the most important things like the rocks. Then you can fill the rest with less important things. Finally you can fill the rest with the things that are not important or necessary. If we fill up our jar with water or sand first, there is no room for the important things like rocks. If you spend most of your time with things that are not important or necessary, you find yourself with no fruit. The little foxes have spoiled your vine.