I think God is a lot like video games. Don’t shoot me, I’ll explain.
See, when I was younger, I used to play a lot of video games. I still would, probably, if my mother hadn’t literally hidden my console – I tend to go overboard and play excessively, plus I get grumpy and irascible and antisocial. It’s a good thing that I don’t play much anymore. But back in the days when I did play, I was pretty good – there was nobody in my circle of friends who could beat me; at least, at my kind of games. With other games, I wasn’t so proficient.
Anyway, my sister liked to play video games too, and she liked to play video games with me. This wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except that she wasn’t nearly as skilled as I was, and often times I wanted to play alone. (Like I said, I quickly became grumpy and antisocial.) When we did play together, I would often end up carrying her and acting as a buffer for her; and I could handle it. In fact, I welcomed the chance to show off how much more skilled I was than she. She, on the other hand, did not always appreciate this, and frequently asked (read: complained, but she was justified in doing so) me to back off and let her handle things on her own. This I would do, and before long she would be freaking out in the face of some challenge she couldn’t beat and asking me to step in and save her – which, again, I did willingly, because I liked showing off. I would handle the big stuff and protect her from whatever she couldn’t handle, let her go it alone at times – but I was always around if she needed me.
I think God is the same way with us, to some degree. He’ll help us, protect us, and sometimes step in to save us (occasionally in a manner of which we do not approve), and sometimes He steps back and lets us fight our own small battles, while He protects us from the rest and watches over us. Just as those intervals of solo-play helped my sister grow over time from a gamer who needed constant supervision to a gamer who could handle herself, God sometimes steps back and lets us handle things on our own so that we can grow. He lets us fly solo – but not so that we learn to be independent and self-sufficient, no longer needing Him. Unlike my sister’s growth into an independent gamer, God lets us fly solo so that we learn the value of flying with a wingman; He steps back so that we miss Him and run to Him. We realize His absence and feel it keenly, and so we chase after Him because His distance is so unbearable. Jesus’ nearness is like sunshine and fresh water to the Christian – remove Him, and we cry out in darkness and dryness, seeking desperately for His perfect refreshment.
Much like my sister staring down a boss opponent and shrieking “Evan Evan Evan Evan help help help help!!!”
-Dr. Fiction
