Song of Solomon 2:15

(15) Catch [for] us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.

In the previous verse we looked at last week, the Bridegroom has asked to see the bride's face and hear her voice, so now she obliges Him. She cries out for Him to come and help her with the things (the foxes) in her life that keep her from complete surrender and obedience to Him.

It's the foxes that keep us from completely maturing as the bride of Christ. In the natural, foxes are very crafty, cunning small animals. This is a good description of things in our lives that will keep us from maturing into what we are destined to be. These 'foxes,' if left to themselves, will hinder and sometimes completely destroy the fruit we were intended to produce in our lives.

The bride is aware of these foxes, and also understands she must have help to get rid of them. So she cries out to the Lord to come and catch the foxes. The foxes are not the blaring, obvious sins in our lives, but most of the time they are the subtle things that God reveals to us by Holy Spirit. It might be an attitude, an unforgiveness toward someone, or maybe a judgement against someone. It can be very subtle, sometimes not even spoken aloud, but just a thought. It might be something that has been in your life for years, maybe not even necessarily bad of itself, but there comes a time when God puts His finger on it and says, 'I want that gone...it is harmful to our relationship.'

We've all had the foxes. But when God gets ready to do a deep work in you, these 'foxes' will be revealed and we have a choice what we will do with them. We can ignore them and stay where we are, or, like the bride of Christ in this passage, we can cry out to the Lord to help us. The true bride of Christ desires that everything that hinders her being one with Him be taken out of her life.

If you're not sure if you have any little foxes, ask the Lord to reveal them to you by His Holy Spirit, and He will. This is just another step toward maturity for the bride of Christ. And the great thing is, if you ask Him to help you, He will! Because He delights in the anticipation of your being one with Him. Selah....