One of my
favorite word-pictures from the Song of Solomon is that of the little foxes
that can ruin a vineyard.[1] It
is a very apt way of demonstrating how unresolved problems in a marriage can
cause serious damage. As long as the little foxes were allowed to scamper
around the roots of the plants, they could do irreparable damage to a crop.
The same
metaphor can apply to many other scenarios than the marriage relationship, one
of those being our prayer-relationship with God. There are certain things that
can hinder our prayers like little foxes left to tear up the roots of the
vines.[2]
I am sure we
can think of many little foxes that ruin our fruitful prayer-relationship with
God, but the particular one I have in mind is that of the “old thoughts.” This distinctive
species of the fox family scampers through our minds with all kinds of old
thoughts that belong to our old life in the world, or the worldly ways of
thought that consumed us before coming to Jesus Christ in faith.
For example,
the life of fruitful prayer is described like this: “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before
God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments
and do what pleases him.”[3]
Those who have
grown up in the good-works mindset may find themselves entertaining
fox-thoughts by imagining that the only way we can “have confidence with God,” and the only way we can except that, “whatever we ask we receive from him,”
is if we “keep his (ten) commandments and
do what (the law requires) pleases him.”
If we allow
these little foxes of law and old covenant commandments to scamper around our
minds, they will tear up the roots of hope and faith that would make us feel
that there is truly “now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.”[4] Our
prayers become hindered and discouraged because we entertain old covenant ideas
about how well we need to perform in order to receive answer to our prayers.
While there is
a whole new testament full of encouragement about how wonderfully different
things are under the new covenant in Jesus’ blood,[5] I
will focus on what John says right after identifying the connection between our
confidence, our prayers, and our obedience. He writes, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”[6]
As soon as we
see that the commandments of the new covenant are to “believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and to love one another,”
we realize that God has already brought both of these to life within us. We
have been taken captive by the love of Jesus Christ as he himself has brought
us to faith in his name.
With that in
mind (instead of the little foxes), we can approach God with confidence,
knowing that we do have faith in Jesus Christ, and we do love the brotherhood
of believers, and that our growing up in these things is the only way things
can be for us children of God. We are alive in Jesus (as attested by our faith
and love), and so we have reason to pray with hope, faith, and love guiding all
that we do, all that we seek, all that we desire, and all that we look for
around us.
I have
witnessed far too many Christians thinking their prayers are of little value because
they aren’t doing “good enough” at something they perceive as a command of God’s
word. Things would change if we could accept the fullness of the gospel of
grace, that we are saved by grace through faith, we stand in the grace of God
by faith, and we grow up to maturity in Christ by grace through faith.
As long as we
have “faith working through love,”[7]we
have the reality of life in Jesus Christ our Lord. And, if we have that life,
we have the same Father as Jesus, the one who will hear and answer our prayers,
constantly shaping our faith and love so that we are more and more like Jesus every
day.
So, if “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of
glory to another,”[8]we
can most certainly expect our prayers to do the same. So, let us pray our
hearts out, and let God our Father decide how to answer us for our greatest
good.[9]
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, Canada, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Song of Solomon 2:15 (not that I like that the little foxes do that, only that
I like the imagery as a good tool for picturing how unresolved problems in
relationships can bring similar harm).
[2]
I Peter 3:7 shows this as a distinctive issue for us husbands! Peter speaks of
it more positively in I Peter 4:7. Obviously, if we do not do the things that
help us to pray, the absence of those qualities will hinder our prayers. II
Peter 1:3-11 shows the qualities that must be increasing in order for us avoid
being “ineffective and unfruitful” (vs 8).
[3]
I John 3:21-22
[4]
Romans 8:1
[5]
Luke 22:20; II Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 9:15; 12:18-24
[6]
I John 3:23
[7]
Galatians 5:6
[8]
II Corinthians 3:18
[9]
Romans 8:28
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