Have you ever seen cartoons depicting the chase between the fox and the hounds? The fox
is always smart by covering his tracks, backtracking, going through water, jumping over
logs, etc.
Song of Solomon 2:15 says, “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our
vines have tender grapes.” There are many interpretations that can be extrapolated from
this passage, but let’s look at it this way. We are vines or branches that extend from the
main vine of Jesus Christ as depicted in John 15. Those tender grapes are the fruit that we
bear – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol.
What are the foxes that are trying every which way not to be caught? Those things that will
spoil our relationship with Jesus, that breaks the anointing, that spoils our fruit. Most of the
time, it’s the thoughts that we do not capture. We are commanded in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to
“bring EVERY thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” That seems easy enough,
except those thoughts are as slippery and wily as a greased fox.
When the thought is a big one that is obviously against God, we immediately take authority
over it and don’t even give it the time of day. But what about the little things? We get up in
the morning full of victory and positive energy. On the way to work, several cars cut us off.
Out of frustration we say, “What am I? Invisible?” We don’t negate our frustration or
release the offense as we drive on. At work, the copier jams, the printer won’t print right,
the stapler is out of staples, and our pen is out of ink. Again, we lose our joy, peace,
longsuffering and self-control, but we carry on without actively taking authority over all the
little things. Then our client comes in and the computer crashes as we are trying to take
care of them. Our victory is now gone. Our attachment to the Vine is wounded. Our fruit is
totally bruised, smashed and unusable. Not because of any one thing – but many little
things that we do not catch at the time.
We need to become expert fox hunters; catching every little one. Knowing that the little
ones grow up to become big ones. “Catch us the foxes” – catch them all – everyone. “For
our vines have tender grapes.” - our vines are precious and our fruit is hard-earned. Let us
become diligent in protecting our connection with our Lord and Savior.