God’s Severe Mercy Jonah 2   “…though I wouldn’t have admitted it, even to myself, I didn’t want God aboard. He was too heavy. I wanted Him approving from a considerable distance. I didn’t want to be thinking of Him. I wanted to be free—like Gypsy. I wanted life itself, the color and fire and loveliness of life. And Christ now and then, like a loved poem I could read when I wanted to. I didn’t want us to be swallowed up in God. I wanted holidays from the school of Christ.”
― Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy: A Story of Faith, Tragedy and Triumph   “It is not possible to be ‘incidentally a Christian.’ The fact of Christianity must be overwhelmingly first or nothing” (ibid, 86).   “That death, so full of suffering for us both, suffering that still overwhelmed my life, was yet a severe mercy. A mercy as severe as death, a severity as merciful as love” (ibid, 211).     Map   1. God goes to extreme measures to extend His mercy to us   2. God wants us to turn to Him, even from the pits of despair   3. God never leaves us, no matter how far we have fallen   4. God substitutes can never truly deliver you, nor are they meant to   5. God is not only worthy of our immense gratitude for His deliverance, but He’s worthy of our very lives!   Questions for Reflection:   Are you running from God? Has God been trying to capture your attention? Like Jonah, at last, will you surrender to his severe mercy?