Little foxes

As we approach valentines day I though I would start with a little love poem. I am planning on putting it in Jenny’s valentine… I need to know what you think

In twilight’s hush, where shadows play, Two foxes dance as light fades away. Beneath the moon's soft, silver gleam, Their love ignites a fairy tale dream.

With fiery fur and eyes that gleam, They weave through woods, a living dream. Their whispers blend with wind’s soft sigh, A secret love beneath the sky.

In meadows where the wildflowers grow, They leap and twirl in the twilight’s glow. A gentle nuzzle, a tender kiss, In every touch, they find their bliss.

Through forest paths and rivers wide, They journey on, side by side. Two hearts that beat in perfect sync, A bond that time can never unlink.

Cute eh

The last verse not so much…

To vineyards ripe, they steal away, Where grapes hang low in wild array. Their playful hearts unleash pure chaos, Leaving trails of crushed, torn loss.

Among the vines, they twist and turn, Leaves ripped apart, the tendrils burn. In reckless glee, they bring destruction, A wild rampage, their love’s eruption.

I might miss the last two verses out

There are two books of the Bible that I would consider speaking from less than the rest. Coming in at #2 is Revelation. It’s hard and I don’t understand much of it. But probably #1 is the Song of Solomon. Just the mention of can make people blush, and shy away. My bible introduces Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) as a collection of love poems between a lover and his beloved. It beautifully celebrates romantic and physical love. If this book is indeed connected to Solomon his intimate involvement with 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kgs 11:3) would both qualify him but also make is surprising that he could detail knowledge of what an ideal relationship, as depicted in the Song, should be.

This book records the love affair between two unnamed lovers. It’s a romance that would make the Mills & Boon cheesy romance section at the back GREEN with envy.

As well as the verses perfect for Valentine’s day cards,

Song of Solomon 1:2–3 CSB

2 Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your caresses are more delightful than wine. 3 The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating; your name is perfume poured out. No wonder young women adore you.

I’ll stop before I blush

There is a strange verse; a verses that demands a second look. It is an odd verse, in that they break the lovey-dovey or even erotic theme of the story. Yet this verse is not irrelevant. The verse teaches a very important principle of excellence that applies both in marriages, in relationships, in church and in the wider world.

With this in mind I need you to ask yourselves a really important question. “Where do you stand on fox hunting?”

I’m, reading from Chapter 2 vers 8

Song of Solomon 2:8–15 CSB

8 Listen! My love is approaching. Look! Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9 My love is like a gazelle or a young stag. See, he is standing behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. 10 My love calls to me: Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one. 11 For now the winter is past; the rain has ended and gone away. 12 The blossoms appear in the countryside. The time of singing has come, and the turtledove’s cooing is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines give off their fragrance. Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one. 14 My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 15 Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin the vineyards— for our vineyards are in bloom.

“Catch the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Where did that come from, it was getting all lovey-dovey and then BAM a warning about pest control.

The foxes in question is not the ‘Basil Brush’ red fox we see in Lincolnshire (Vulpes Vulpes)

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but the Syrian Fox (Vulpes Thaleb).

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It is small, silent and causes massive damage in vineyards, its Hebrew name is Shaul (SHOO uhl) meaning ground, named after its habit of digging and burrowing. In the vineyards it causes massive damage both by eating the grapes and tender young shoots and by digging under the vines, killing them. You see no matter how big and bushy a vine is; it sprouts from a single stem. You can hack the top of the Vine about quite a lot and cause little lasting harm, but damage the stem and the whole plant succumbs.

These small seemingly inoffensive and insignificant animals can do an immense amount of harm. Isn’t that true in life too? It is funny how it is the smallest of things that seem OK that have the ability to do the most damage. These 'little foxes' symbolise small, seemingly insignificant issues which can escalate if left unchecked. We are encouraged to safeguard our relationships from small issues that can grow into larger problems

As soon as things begin to go forward, the enemy sends out the foxes. One thing that proves things are moving with God is – the foxes come in. one thing that proves that god is blessing; the arrival of little foxes.

Sometimes they are little squabbles within the church body; little problems that arise between family members, grudges held to long.

Sometimes, it’s the imaginary issues. “So-and-so just doesn’t like me.” “She didn’t even talk to me Sunday…” Maybe she just had a bad day. A lot of times, the problems we perceive are just imaginary; things we come up with on our own.

On a personal note if I pass you in the supermarket without acknowledging you - don’t take it personally I am in the zone, sorry.

We need to be on the guard for little foxes even minor conflicts, if left unchecked, can harm the beauty and joy of our relationships.

We have to focus on proactively caring for one another: communication, and attentiveness to the needs and feelings of our partners and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I believe we have to put up our defences against the foxes, now. We need to prepare ourselves.

I sense things are moving, changing in the Vine Church right now. God is doing great things in individuals lives. The ice that has surrounded the area has melted. We’ve begun to see the tender grapes, appearing on the vine and as sure as the tender shoots spring forth… as sure as the blossoms appear… as sure as developing grapes burst out into a cluster, foxes appear.

We’re serving a loving God, who sends the growth. But we have an enemy, who is determined to keep us from being fruitful. He’s sending out the foxes. And make no mistake, the foxes will come. But in the passage we are called to seize the little foxes.

Let me run through a few little foxes that as we move in to new season we need to catch hold of and by no means is this an exhaustive list:

By far the most destructive

Two Foxes - little criticism and a little gossip

The tongue is a little member in the body. A dagger is small compared with a sword, but it can kill just as well.

It was the focus of the word for today on Friday.

Proverbs 18:21 CSB

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

If you catalogue all the kinds of sin recorded in the bible you may be surprised to learn that there are more sins associated with the tongue (speech) than any other part of our being. These sins include blasphemy, lying, gossiping, cursing, and backbiting.

Among my many sins, some of the most regrettable have been things that I have said. Words hurt, don’t they?

We should not teach our children: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” That is not true. I would much rather have been beaten with a club than to have had some things said about me.

A little match can burn down a forest. A little tongue can do irreparable damage to a life. Bite your tongue before it bites you or others. That extends to texting thumbs and social media comments too.

more little foxes : little commitment, little faith, little focus, little effort, little love, little gratitude

Matthew 6:30 CSB

30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?

Not only is it impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6), but the Lord is displeased by our little faith. And yet, the same Lord who is dismayed at our little faith is also the one who said that mustard-seed-sized faith can move mountains.

It seems that His displeasure is not so much with the size of our faith, but with the fact that we do not take advantage of those opportunities to increase our faith that His grace supplies.

Faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17) and spending time with God - Do you read God’s Word? Prayer can build us up in our faith (Jude 20). Do you pray?

Or do other things get in the way or get more focus.

A little love

Do you have little love? Jesus said that all the Law could be summed up in one command, “You shall love the Lord your God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37). Do you hold onto your first love, if asked by Jesus, do you love me? would your answer be: “I love you, Lord Jesus.” Or have other things quenched your first love.

A little gratitude

It is so easy in a busy life to forget to be thankful. who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10)

Some people with a terminal disease feel that they actually have been given a great gift. Suddenly, the so-called little things become so much more important in their lives. They take time to smell the roses. They notice a beautiful sunset. They hear the birds singing. They savour every little nuance of life and are thankful for the privilege of enjoying them.

The wise relish family get-togethers. A birthday, an anniversary, or a holiday becomes more special. It’s not a stop-at-the-store-on-the-way-home-and-buy-a-75p-card-and-a-cheap-box-of-chocolates type of day. It’s a let’s-make-a-memory type of day.

Many , muddle through our lives to a sudden death, having never truly appreciated the little things. To the wise, little things mean so much! Let’s learn from the wise. May we praise God for everything including the so-called “small things.”

We are called to be thankful “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18). Have you ever done something for someone and then never received so much as a thank-you? It hurt, didn’t it? Do you do it to others? Do you forget to be thankful to God?

A little civility and a little sensitivity

When I write e-mails for work they have to be short and to the point as much for the benefit of those receiving hundreds of mails a day as for clarity. I do however make a conscious effort to add in the pleases, the hope you are well, the thank-you. It is really important that we do this both our of love and to avoid misunderstanding. TONELESS READING

A little jealousy and A little disappointment and a little cynicism

It happened to them, it didn’t or won’t happen to me.

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future. —Sydney J. Harris, On the Contrary

A little fear, a little control

Gods plan not ours.

A little folly.

A person who has a reputation for wisdom and honour can destroy that reputation by one off-colour joke, one foolish deed, or one ungodly attitude. A moment’s mischief by one little fox of folly can outlast years and years of hard work.

One’s entire reputation can be destroyed overnight. Guard that vine. Do whatever it takes to keep the little foxes from your precious vine of reputation. It is easier to maintain a good reputation than to try to restore a sullied one.

A little distraction.

Facebook / twitter /corrie / instead of the bible

The box set culture I’ll just watch one more.

You will notice that none of these things are huge, there is no murder there is no major scandal, all of these are small things, they are small foxes.

I belive we are in church that is moving one where God is starting an advance and I am expectant. I am believing for more people, new families, new growth, and a new attitude. Things are happening positively. It might not be 100% the way we’d like it to be and that is probably for the best. God is moving, and going forward. We all have to make adjustments, sacrifices, and make room for things to move to allow God’s plan to unfold.He’s lining things up in an unbelievable way.

The antidote to Little foxes is to nurture deep, loving relationships with Him and with each other, we must actively guard against the little foxes that threaten to spoil them, cultivating a love that reflects Christ's commitment to His Church.

Catching the little foxes and filling in the holes they like to frequent with Love.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 CSB

4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

We need to continue to prayer that God will show us when we’re dealing with a little Foxes.

1 Peter 5:6–8 CSB

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. 8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

and so often our adversary sends little foxes.

Little foxes can and do spoil the vineyard. The little foxes in our spiritual life can do so much harm if we let them. So, let’s “seize . . . the foxes, the little foxes.” Let’s chase the little foxes from our lives before the vineyard is damaged.

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