Devotional thoughts for the week of July 25, 2010 – Catch the Foxes

Mancelona Family Camp is a place where people leave behind the routines and struggles of daily life and spend a week focusing on God. Those who are willing to hear His Spirit speak to their hearts always receive a blessing, a sense of spiritual renewal and re-focus, a call of God to draw nearer. It’s a seven-day feast for the soul, made even richer by fellowship with other believers. Early in the week I heard the Holy Spirit calling me to love God with all my heart (my emotions) as well as with my service. I found myself yearning to be more like my Daddy, who is always humming songs of praise throughout his daily activities. I want to love God so much that it just bubbles out of my heart in praise to Him day by day. I was enjoying the voice and the presence of the Holy Spirit. My focus was on Him and I was already feeling renewed by the second day of camp. As the week went on, however, I was wounded by some harsh words spoken to people I love by people I love. My desire to see the issues dealt with and friendships reconciled kept me awake at night. I struggled in prayer, as my mind continually reverted back to this hurt. God was still there, calling me near to Himself, but my focus had shifted. I lost out on two days of fellowship with God and with His people because I allowed my mind to be consumed with these issues (which were actually very small in the scheme of things).

The book entitled Song of Solomon or Song of Songs is a very strange part of the Old Testament. It is a bold, poetic description of the love between a man and a woman. It is also a picture of the intimate, personal love God desires to have with each person He has created. As the book expresses this beautiful, healthy love it gives an admonition, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom” (2:15). The foxes referred to here are the petty things, the little annoyances of life that crowd out my joy and take my focus off of my first love.

For me, this past week, the little foxes were careless words spoken that brought out my defensiveness. Sometimes, the foxes may be worries over finances or decisions or relationships. The little foxes may be unfulfilled longings, or physical pain, or any number of things that take our focus off of God and his desire to be near to his children. They rob us of our joy. It is like a man sitting on the beach, in view of a beautiful sunset over the water. The beauty that would enrich his spirit is right in front of him, but he is busy looking down at a hangnail and completely misses the spectacular display.

Friends, God is doing something beautiful. He longs to draw you close and to make himself known to you. When you focus fully on him, the cares of this world will lose some of their power, and you will be filled with an indescribable joy and peace.

The enemy of our souls will feed us lies and try to keep us distracted by the little foxes. I actually contemplated just going home for the rest of the week. Interestingly enough, I did not find release and refocus until I went to a prayer meeting. Only then was I successful in shifting my focus from these petty concerns, back to the One my heart loves. It takes a deliberate, and repeated act of the will to catch the foxes – the lies of the enemy that damage your relationships with God and others – and to set your eyes upon the Lord. I encourage you not to let those little foxes rob you of the joy of the Lord. That joy can only be found in a close, personal relationship with Him. This is true in the Christian life, true in a marriage, true in any relationship. Recognize the lies of the enemy and rid your life of those foxes, so that you can live victoriously in Jesus.

May God bless you as you seek to know and love Him, Lynn