Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Song of Solomon 2-3
Key Verse
Song of Solomon 2:15 — “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.”
Devotional Thought
The Shulamite speaks first, and her self-description is humble: “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” She is not a hothouse flower but a common bloom of the plain, and yet her Beloved answers that she is a lily among thorns, set apart among all the daughters. He, in turn, is to her an apple tree among the trees of the wood—fruitful, shade-giving, sweet to the taste. She sits under His shadow with delight; He brings her to the banqueting house and lifts a banner over her that reads simply, Love. Then comes the tender charge not to stir up love before its time, and the bride’s cry, “Stay me with flagons… for I am sick of love.”
The second half of the reading turns to longing and seeking. The voice of the Beloved is heard leaping upon the mountains, standing behind the wall, gazing through the lattice, calling, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Winter is past; the rain is over and gone; flowers appear, the birds sing, the turtledove is heard, the fig tree puts forth green figs, and the vines smell sweet. Yet even in this springtime of love there is a warning: “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Small things ruin tender things. Then, in chapter three, the mood shifts to night and absence: “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.” She rises, searches the streets, asks the watchmen, and at last finds him and holds him fast.
Here on an October Tuesday, with the year itself turning toward winter, this Song reads like a portrait of the soul’s life with Christ. There are seasons of banqueting and seasons of searching; days when His banner over us is love, and nights when we cannot find Him on our bed. The little foxes still spoil the vines—small compromises, small neglects, small resentments—and the vines have tender grapes. But the seeking soul is not abandoned. The One who hides Himself through the lattice is the same One who leaps upon the mountains to reach us, and He is found by those who rise and seek Him in the streets.
Reflection
- What “little foxes” are spoiling the tender grapes in your walk with Christ right now—small habits, small indifferences, small disobediences that seem harmless but nibble away at love?
- When you have sought Him by night and found Him not, what has kept you from rising, going out, and seeking until you find Him and hold Him fast?
Prayer
O Lord Jesus, Thou who art the apple tree among the trees of the wood, we would sit down under Thy shadow with great delight and taste Thy fruit, which is sweet. Bring us again into the banqueting house, and let Thy banner over us be love. Forgive us for the little foxes we have allowed to spoil the tender vines, and for the nights we have lain still instead of rising to seek Thee. When winter passes and the voice of the turtledove is heard, make us ready to rise and come away with Thee. Until the day break and the shadows flee away, keep us holding fast to Him whom our soul loveth, and let us never let Him go. Amen.