The little girl in our story today was the daughter of Jewish parents. As a rule Jewish children are taught that Jesus was not their Messiah; they learn something of the Old Testament but for the most part they are taught not to believe the New Testament Scriptures which tell so much of the Saviour. Yet Jewish children, like all others, are lost, until they are found by the Good Shepherd.
This little girl’s mother had died when she was very young. This was such a sorrow to her father that he left his own country and took his little girl and settled in America. They had everything that money could buy to make them happy, and it was his only object in life to love and care for his little daughter.
She was a sweet little girl, and better than that she was a lovable child, and unusually clever. She was everything her father could wish. But when she was seventeen, the dark clouds of sorrow gathered around them, and it was found that she was suffering from a serious disease. No matter how much her father spent on doctors nothing could be done to save her.
Her father was too full of distress for any comfort. He watched at his daughter’s bedside, powerless to keep the darling of his heart, and without any support from his religion that could shed light upon what was beyond death.
Often he sat beside her bed feeling as if his heart would break. Sometimes his daughter would smile up at him, and squeeze his hand, but he could not speak for tears.
One day she grasped his hand and said, “My father, do you love me?”
“Why, my child, will you give me such great pain? Have I never given you any proofs of my love?”
She continued, “But, my dearest father, do you truly love me?” The father could not answer for sorrow.
Then the girl added: “I know, my dearest father, you have ever loved me, and I have tenderly loved you. Will you grant me One request? Oh, my father! it is the dying request of your daughter, will you grant it?”
The poor father replied, “My dearest child, ask what you will, though it take every cent of my property, whatever it may be, it shall be granted you. I will grant it.”
“My dear father, I beg you never again to speak against Jesus of Nazareth!”
Her father was dumb with astonishment.
“I know,” continued the dying girl, “but little of Jesus, for I was never taught; but I know that He is my Saviour, for He has manifested Himself to me since I have been ill, even for the salvation of my soul, and I believe He will save me, although I never before loved Him. I know that I am going to Him, and that I shall ever be with Him. And now, my dear father, do not forget me... never again speak against Jesus of Nazareth. I entreat you to obtain a Testament that tells of Him, and when I am no more here, you may bestow on Him that love which was formerly mine.”
The effort of speaking was too great for her feeble body, and she stopped; but her father’s heart was too full even for tears. He left the room in great anguish, and before he could return, the spirit of his beloved daughter had gone to be with Christ —the Saviour whom she loved, and who had redeemed her.
Her father was true to his promise. He bought a New Testament, and as he read it, the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shone into his soul, and he became a humble follower of his Lord and Saviour.
ML 05/21/1961