On this day in 1848, an ice jam stopped the flow of water over Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls is the second largest waterfall in the world. Water from Lakes Michigan, Erie, Superior, and Huron empty into the Niagara River and then fall over a spectacular drop the same height as a 20-story building.

Nearly 12 million visitors make the trek to view the majestic beauty of the falls. But imagine going to Niagara Falls and not seeing a drop of water trickle over. Even in the coldest of winters, the tremendous volume of water never stops flowing.

One time, however, the flow of water over the falls completely stopped for several hours because of an ice jam in the upper river. The Falls didn’t freeze over, but the flow of water stopped so that people were able to walk out and recover lost items from the riverbed.

The ice jam halting the flow of water over Niagara Falls is a good word picture for what happens when we allow sin to go unconfessed in our lives. Just like the ice jam upstream completely cut off the flow of water from the falls, our sin completely cuts us off from God. If we continually ignore our wrong thoughts, attitudes, and actions, we will find ourselves separated from God. His love, grace, and forgiveness cannot flow through us because our sin is acting liking an ice jam. Remember, God is completely holy. He cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate our sin in any form.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that our sin does not prevent God from loving us. The Bible tells us that when we confess our sins to God and turn from them, he is always willing to forgive us. Just as the flow of water rushed over Niagara Falls after the ice jam was removed, so a deluge of God’s forgiveness washes and removes our sins and our guilt.

But there is a problem—your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore (Isaiah 59:2).

To Do

Find some pictures of Niagara Falls on the Internet. Let them remind you of God’s overflowing love for you as you confess your sins.

Also on this day . . .

1790—John Tyler, the 10^th president of the United States, was born in Virginia

1886—Coca-Cola was invented.

1974—Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to reach the planet Mercury. It had been launched on November 3, 1973.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.