June 7 / Springs in the Valley

June 7

God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. (2 Cor. 5:19)

There is on record a story of how a tribe of North American Indians who roamed in the neighborhood of Niagara offered, year by year, a young virgin as a sacrifice to the Spirit of the Mighty River.

She was called the Bride of the Falls. The lot fell one year on a beautiful girl who was the only daughter of an old chieftain.

The news was carried to him while he was sitting in his tent; but on hearing it the old man went on smoking his pipe, and said nothing of what he felt.

On the day fixed for the sacrifice a white canoe, full of ripe fruits and decked with beautiful flowers, was ready, waiting to receive “the Bride.”

At the appointed hour she took her place in the frail bark, which was pushed out into midstream where it would be carried swiftly toward the mighty cataract.

Then, to the amazement of the crowd which had assembled to watch the sacrifice, a second canoe was seen to dart out from the river’s bank a little lower down the stream. In it was seated the old chieftain. With swift strokes he paddled toward the canoe in which sat his beloved child. Upon reaching it he gripped it firmly and held it fast. The eyes of both met in one last long look of love; and then, close together, father and daughter were carried by the racing current until they plunged over the thundering cataract and perished side by side.

In their death they were not divided. The father was in it with his child! “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” He did not have to do this. Nobody forced Him. The only force behind that sacrifice was the force of His seeking love for His lost world.
SELECTED

Cowman, L. B. E.. Springs in the Valley (pp. 172-173). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.