DAY 16: LITTLE FOXES I

 PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL

30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM

September 16, 2023.

Topic: LITTLE FOXES I

Bible Reading: Judges 15:1-11

Verse for Meditation: Song of Songs 2:15 NLT

Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love for the grapevines are blossoming!

A little fox does not really seem all that dangerous, well compared to that of a bear or a coyote. Yet the little foxes are capable of doing terrible damage; they burrow and chew in a vineyard until the vines wither and become unproductive.

The point of our verse for meditation is that just as Solomon and the Shulamite girl were beginning to enjoy each other’s company, she received word that foxes had gotten into the family vineyard, and she had to leave and tend to the problem.

The little foxes are an example of the kinds of problem which can disturb or destroy a good relationship. Small things work over time to erode our relationship with God and with people, even the very cord of our faith.

Matthew Henry’s commentary on the little foxes is that they creep in insensibly; for, though they are little, they do great mischief, they spoil the vines, which they must by no means be suffered to do at any time, especially now when the vines have tender grapes that must be preserved, or the vintage will fail. Believers are as vines, weak but useful plants; their fruits are as tender crops at first, which must have time to come to maturity.

What chews away at our lives? Most often it is not some gross evil, or deep dark depravity; more likely it’s a few little foxes that are running loose and doing their destructive damage.

Now back to the story of the fall in Genesis 3, the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made; the fox is cunning too! So we can allegorise the serpent as the little fox. And heeding to the voice of ‘the little fox,’ man did ‘a little thing’ by eating the fruit that God commanded him not to eat. That ruined ‘the vineyard of his love;’ his relationship with God.

And one thing about sin is that it will always lead to another, and then to another, and then to another. When man disobeyed God, he felt guilty and ashamed of his sin and that led to him blaming God for the woman that He gave to him.

Same thing happened in Genesis 4, Cain was angry that God refused his sacrifice for Abel’s. Yet God spotted it and warned him about it, because anger, if not dealt with can lead to an act of sin (Ps. 4:4; Eph. 4:26). But Cain despised God’s advice and that led to him killing Abel. Sin always begets sin.

True freedom is not you doing whatsoever you feel like doing; but it is a life with restrictions. For example, if you are hungry, you are free to eat. But there’s a restriction on what to eat and the amount of food you should take in. Same with our spiritual life, we have a life of freedom (2Cor. 3:17), but we are to restrict ourselves from sinning (Rom. 6:11-16), because when sin begets sin, it leads to the hardness of the heart (Jas. 1:15; Rom. 2:5).

The little foxes, those ‘small sins’ that we feel that do not matter, if not dealt with can lead to ‘a bigger sin.’ By the way there is no smaller or bigger sin, sin is sin. This is just an explanation to the sins we do not consider as something grievous can lead to a hardness of heart.

There is a difference between vengeance and justice; the former involves one’s emotions, while the latter involves the law. The former brings harm toward the one who hurt you, while the latter brings people into right relationship. What Samson did with the 300 foxes was vengeance and not justice, and it was all a cycle of vengeance between Samson and the Philistines. The foxes that Samson used to satisfy his anger led to the revenge of the Philistines killing his father-in-law. And by the way, Samson picked his wife from the Philistines, Israel’s enemies. If he hadn’t picked a wife from his people’s enemies, he wouldn’t have been enraged to seek for revenge.

Paraphrasing what a wise man says, ‟Responding to the desires of the flesh does not make it go; it grows.” Do not let sin have its desire over you, deal with it before it gets a hold over you.

PRAYER:

DEAR LORD, PLEASE HELP ME TO ALWAYS MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE FLESH.

DECLARATION:

I WALK IN THE SPIRIT, AND SO I DO NOT FULFILL THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH.

Bible Reading Plan: John 13:5-14:15; Ephesians 1:15-2:22; Proverbs 16