Well, good morning, church. If you have your Bibles this morning, go ahead and open to Song of Solomon, chapter 5. But before we jump into God's Word this morning, I wanted to tell you about a dream that Becky had a while back. In this dream, Becky was passionate about something. I don't remember what it was, but she was trying to communicate that passion to me in a way that I would understand. And she was trying to get me not only to share in her passion, but also in her point of view about whatever it was. And so she began to tell me. The problem was that no matter how she told me, no matter what she told me, how well she tried to communicate, I just wasn't getting it. Apparently, I was too dense or too dumb. to figure out what she was saying. And so she'd tell me again. And I would miss it again. And you know how it goes. At this point, she's starting to get frustrated. Right? She's like, look at me. She's like, what are you, new? Like, how hard is this to understand? Well, I'm not going to take that. And so I retort, well, I might understand if you were making any sort of rational sense at all. And so it escalates. And she starts to get angry. And because of that, I start being a total jerk. And so she starts yelling at me. And so I respond maturely by walking out, and by not listening to her, and by treating her like garbage. And it went on like this. Her emotions cranked to 11. She is absorbing all of these feelings of hurt and rejection and amazement at the kind of person that apparently I was. Now remember, this was a dream. It didn't actually happen. And in reality, here I am, over on my side of the bed, sawing logs, completely oblivious to the intense emotional damage that I am causing my wife in that moment, completely unaware of the reckoning that is looming come the dawn. Now, if you've experienced this marital phenomenon, you also know that when the dream ends, and when consciousness returns to the dreamer, Oftentimes, the emotional turmoil of the dream remains. I assure you, I did not wake up that morning with my account at zero. I had already lost the day. The day started with Becky angry at me, and with us in that conflict funk that we all know too well. Now, all that said, it was not a big deal. Becky was very honest, very communicative. She knew that it was just a dream, that I was not actually at fault for anything. But let me tell you, the emotional turmoil remained. And it took a while for her to deal with that and to work through it and get over it. And during that time, it affected our relationship because real or imagined, I had hurt her. Now listen, because if that is the effect of something that didn't actually happen, what happens when the hurt isn't a dream, but a reality? Song of Solomon 2.15, catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyard. Discord, dishonor, neglect, transaction. These are little foxes that, if allowed to roam, bring devastation into our relationships. Beloved, God tells us to catch and to kill the little foxes. And this morning, we're gonna end our series talking about our final little fox, the little fox of the past. In Isaiah 43, 18 and 19, the Lord says, forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert. When it comes to this issue of the little fox of the past, it's important for us to recognize that we are viewing the past through the lens of Isaiah 43, because the truth is the past is not all bad. We have fond memories from the past, precious time with family and friends. The past can be beneficial for us. We learn from the past, experiences both positive and negative. There are even some contexts in scripture where God tells us to remember the past, especially as it pertains to his work and who he has shown himself to be, so that in the future when we come across something, we can respond in faith because we know who he is. But the past as it pertains to Isaiah 43 is different. In the context of Isaiah 43, God is telling his people that he wants to move them or bring them somewhere. You see, Isaiah 43 is all about God's plan to redeem and to save. to bring his life and real change into our reality, into his people, into our relationships. And he can do that. But in that, he warns, don't dwell on the past. Why? He says, because I want to do a new thing. That word dwell means to give attention to or to be marked by. And listen, the past becomes a little fox when it causes us to get stuck on something, when we get marked by something that we can't get over, that we can't move on from. And then that thing prevents the Lord from bringing his renewing work into our life or into that relationship. And if we're either unwilling or unable to overcome the past, the little fox is allowed to roam. Now that said, there are two facets to this little fox that I believe that God wants to give us understanding to this morning. One is outward-focused. It's others-focused. The other one is inward-focused. It's identity-focused. And so we're going to unpack those two together this morning, and this is where our passage in Song of Solomon, Chapter 5, intersects with this concept. So we'll be looking at Chapter 5, verses 2 through 7 this morning, if you want to follow along. I'm not going to explicitly read the text. You can follow along. I'll just tell you what it says. So I started the message today with Becky's dream, because this passage in Song of Solomon 5 is a dream sequence as well. Verse two begins with the woman dreaming about this late night rendezvous with her beloved. The man is heard knocking at the door. He wants to enter. She wants him to enter. There's desire, there's longing, anticipation, high expectation for what this night will bring. There's playfulness and the expectancy of pleasure and fulfillment and intimate connection. I think the black-eyed peas said it well in 2009. I got a feeling that tonight's going to be a good, good night. That's how this dream begins. But here the narrative takes a dramatic turn. See, the woman gets up to let her beloved in, wholly open and vulnerable to him in that moment. But when she opens the door, she finds that, verse six, he had turned and gone. Now, if you remember week one of our Little Foxes series and talking about the little fox of discord, in chapter six, verse one, we read that the beloved had turned away. It was the word pana. And the lesson there was that sometimes the little fox of discord roams in times of conflict because pana. We look away, we turn to other things instead of resolving the issue with the person. But this turning is different. This is the word chamak. It means to withdraw. And further, if we go on, that word gone in verse six is the word abar. It means to pass over, to alienate. In many cases, it means to transgress against, to sin against someone. And the picture being painted here is that in a context of great expectation and openness and vulnerability and connection, the woman's beloved intentionally makes a choice to withdraw and to pass over and to alienate this woman from himself, to alienate their relationship, Say, ouch. And I think most of us, though, on some level can relate to this. Where something happens and all of a sudden we're absorbing feelings of rejection, betrayal, devaluing. And it wounds us. That hurts. And so crushing is the weight of this blow that the woman says, my heart, my soul, literally that which breathes in me, yassa. It left. It went out. We might say, I died inside. See, this woman's heart was crushed in that moment by her beloved's wounding, cut by this deep, deep offense. Now remember, this was a dream. But I also know that in our reality, some of us connect with this all too well. And in the scope of things, it's easy for us to get over the ridiculous dream and laugh about it tomorrow. But that doesn't happen so easy when it's real life, when it's real hurt. And many times, the more intimate the relationship, the deeper the wounding, and the more difficult it is for us to forgive and to move forward. And often then we find ourselves marked by that hurt. We find ourselves carrying that wound, holding on to feelings of anger and bitterness and vengeance toward the other person. Beloved, that's a fox. It's a fox because it holds you and it holds that relationship in bondage. And that's not God's heart. See, his desire is to deliver us out of bondage. He says, don't keep your life there. I want to do something new. I want to make a way forward. But in that he tells us the way forward is forgiveness. God says in Colossians 3.13, bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Beloved, the little fox of the past is allowed to roam when we hold on to unforgiveness against the one who has hurt or who has wronged us. That's the first facet of this little fox of the past. But there is a second facet that we must understand as well. You see, from there, the woman's dream does not end, it continues. And she goes out then looking for her beloved. But while she's out there, the unthinkable happens. It says the watchmen find her. Now, these are men who are supposed to defend and to protect. But instead, it says that they bruise and abuse her. And in verse 7, she says, they took away my veil. They uncovered me. Last week, we talked about the symbolism of the apple tree as a place of security and trust. Song of Solomon 2, 3, and 4. As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow. That's a symbol of covering. And as fruit was sweet to my taste, he brought me to his banqueting table and his banner over me. Again, covering was love. Those verses in chapter 2 stand in stark contrast to this verse in chapter 5. That banner which was spread over her was removed. They took away my veil. This is an identity statement. She says, I'm tainted goods. Now she was not whole, she was broken. Now she was not pure, she was stained, tarnished. She felt less than, walked on, beaten down. And maybe there's someone in this room this morning that feels that same way. That you feel that because of your past, something that happened to you, something maybe that you did, you're now unworthy. You're now unlovable. That you're not valuable. Listen, sometimes we allow the fox of the past to roam because we carry on as a scarlet letter. Whether others put it there or we ourselves put it there, we wear it believing that it is now an irreparable part of who we are. Beloved, hear God's truth this morning. That is not true. We have a beloved. We have a redeemer. And his name is Jesus Christ. In him, the words of Isaiah 61 are made true. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has appointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. to provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Beloved, that's what God wants to do. God wants to redeem you to new life. He wants to redeem your identity and to bring streams into your desert. I love Philippians 3, 13 and 14 where Paul says, he's talking about this encounter with the Lord and how God revolutionized his life. And he said, forgetting what is behind, I strain toward what is ahead. I press on for the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You say, great, that sounds awesome. I want that. How does that happen? How do I catch and kill the little fox of the past? And the answer is only by understanding your beloved. only by laying hold of God's love and forgiveness. See, what we studied today was a dream, but the woman's reality was that she was secure in the loving presence of her beloved. If you read the text, the dream just ends and she wakes up and just continues as normal, right? That's what the whole book is about, is her relationship with her beloved, and their love for one another, and her covering under his care. her identity in him. And our reality might not be a dream, but we too can find security in the loving presence of our beloved Jesus Christ. Give your heart to him. Let him tell you who you are. Let him set your identity. Because the truth is, as followers of Christ, we do carry with us a scarlet letter. Only it's not the capital A as it was in Hawthorne's book, but a lowercase t. It's the cross, covered in the blood of Jesus. Beloved, if you're carrying something from your past, I challenge you, finish the story. Yes, we have been hurt by those around us. Yes, our veil has been taken away, but finish the story. See, at the cross, we've been remade. God says, behold, I'm doing something new. The old, gone. The new, come. The past, forgiven. The future, not forsaken. See, because of the cross, those in Christ have been set as a seal on his heart and on his arm. Our names have been graven on his hand. We have been adopted into his family, secured for all eternity in the love of our beloved. We find ourselves fully loved, fully accepted by him, fully valued, fully secure. And as we close this morning, I wanna circle back to this concept of forgiveness. Because forgiveness is an issue that's close to God's heart. Alexander Pope once said, to err is human. We all know how to do that, we've all done that. To forgive, divine. Because true biblical forgiveness is God-like action. And I want to tell you what it's not, because I think we often misunderstand it. Biblical forgiveness is not justifying someone's behavior. Biblical forgiveness is not simply letting time go by. It's not just getting over the offense. It's not denying that I was ever hurt. And it's certainly not waiting for the other person to be penitent or to say, I'm sorry. That's not what it is. No, biblical forgiveness is about you. It's a decision, it's a choice, it's an act of the will to release the person from their debt, to cancel what they owe. You say, well, why on earth would I do that? The answer is only because in Christ, that is what God has done for you. Scripture tells us that there is no one righteous, no one who has been completely faithful, We've been unloving, we've been offensive, and yet, even in that, God extends to us his forgiveness and his covering, his love, as a gift that we don't deserve. And when we catch and kill the little fox of the past, what we find is freedom. Beloved, forgiving others is hard enough. But the truth is, sometimes the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. You say, I've screwed up. How could I ever forgive that? Let God help with that. He is a master at the forgiveness thing. Because only when we release the past can we step into something new. So finish the story. Will you give your heart to Christ this morning and would you allow his salvation and his renewal to become a reality for you?