8-18-12. Song of Songs 2:8-3:5. CATCH THE LITTLE FOXES-devotional

Song of Songs 2:8-3:5
Key Verse: 2:15

Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF   Saturday, August 18, 2012

“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.”

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank you for the evening where I could relax at a ball game and I could also have some spiritual fellowship. Thank you for these moments that help to revitalize my soul. Thank you for the spiritual fellowship with other servants of God. I pray that you may heal Jenn’s ex wisdom teeth and help her completely healed. Please help Rob to find a place to stay. Help us to have good fellowship with John and Grace today. Revive my soul. Please help me to start newly to go to the campus and invite students to 1:1 Bible study. Plant your word deeply into my heart. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: The Season of Singing (2:8-13).

Love awakened in the heart is like springtime after a long winter. Verses 2:8-13 read, “Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. 9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. 10 My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. 11 See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. 12 Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”

Jesus is majestic and powerful. He is vital. He loves us so much. He does not see us in all of our sins. Because of his grace of forgiveness, he sees us as his “beautiful darling”. He beckons us to come to him. “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.” In Matthew he invites all sinners, “Come to me all you are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Jesus also says, “He who comes to me I will by no means drive away.” We need to come to Jesus, just as we are, and he will embrace us, just as the father of the prodigal son did when he returned.

When we come to Jesus and surrender our hearts to him and allow him to embrace us with this wonderful love, it is like springtime in our hearts. Spring is a beautiful time that lifts our hearts. The winter is past and flowers appear. It is the time for love to blossom anew. The love relationship is like a vineyard coming to life after a long winter, like the fig tree which bears early fruit. Love awakened in the heart is like springtime after a long winter.

When Jesus comes into a cold, dead heart, the season of singing comes. All human love relationships must be rooted in Jesus to give unclouded joy. When Jesus came into my heart it was a like the dawn of a new day. It was like a grand adventure. My heart was unburdened by its many sins. I was free to live as a Christian. There were hard times, but my life has been richly blessed by God. My life has been extended by Jesus because of the peace, love and stability he brings. Thank you Jesus. I pray that the young people of this nation may find the refreshing spring of Jesus’ love.
I have been in a type of cold winter in the last year and a half where God was forcing me into a situation where I had to enter into new relationship with my wife, kids, Bible students and other ministry brethren. I had to step back and ask myself, “What am I inviting people to? What does my family have to offer people when I study the Bible with them?” The whole dynamic of ministry and the paradigm within which I operated changed. It tore me apart for much that I held dear was suddenly tossed out the window. I shed tears. I was angry. I was depressed. I was alienating myself from my family. I was showing the world my sad reality instead of the glory of Jesus and the goodness of the Gospel. I was basically done with my depression and anger and spirit of disappointment. But now Jesus is giving me the dawn of a new day. It is becoming like spring time in my heart. I feel that I am even gaining strength to begin to reach out to students once again with the gospel of Jesus. Thank you Lord, for springtime in my heart.

Part 2. The Little Foxes (2:14-15).

Verses 2:14-15, “My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. 15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.”

When the vineyards are in bloom, they are vulnerable. Little foxes running and playing there ruin the vineyard. A blossoming love relationship is also vulnerable. The little foxes of sin can ruin it. I need to be careful to not let the “Little foxes of sin” to trample the beautiful garden that Jesus is growing in my heart through grace and truth. The little foxes are complaints, judging others, negativity and a spirit of disappointment and loss of hope. I need to repent of these things and fill my heart with God’s love, peace, hope and truth and grace and dedication to his mission in my life.

Part 3: He Is Mine and I Am His (2:16-3:5).

Verses 2:16-3:5, “16 My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies. 17 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills. 3 All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. 2 I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him. The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. “Have you seen the one my heart loves?” 4 Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the room of the one who conceived me. 5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”

The woman really loved this person. “3 All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. 2 I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves …” She sought and sought and would not let him go. This must be the attitude that we have about Jesus. Proverbs tell us concerning wisdom, “Those who seek me early find me.” We need to seek Jesus and the King of God as if we are searching for treasure. We need to be like the man who found a treasure and sold everything he had and bought the field so that the treasure may be him. We need to be like John who leaned upon the chest of Jesus at the Last Supper.
The man was seeking for the woman and now we see the woman seeking for the man. There love was mutual. Mutual commitment is essential in a love relationship.

At first Jesus love for us was not mutual. He loved us first. While we were still sinners Christ died for us. We love because he first loved us. Much of his love is still unconditional every day as we carry on with our lives as if Jesus did not exist. Jesus laid down his life in commitment to me. But as in any love relationship, we need to reciprocate the love. We need to tell Jesus we love him. We need to seek him out. We need to take hold of Jesus. In 2010, Billy Graham said, that if he could do it all over again he would tell Jesus how much he loved him and how much he can’t wait to spend eternity with him. I pray that I respond to Jesus’ love. I pray that I may seek and find and hold onto Jesus with my whole heart and mind and strength. I pray that the young people of America may seek Jesus out, propelled by his love and grace on their lives.

Prayer: Lord, restore to me the joy of the springtime of your love.

One Word: Get rid of the little foxes and respond to the love of Jesus.