When your position has been destroyed, what do you do?
Your CTKid has probably had this gameplay experience a lot, particularly if they play first- or third-person shooter games or strategy games.
Destroying a position in ‘shooters’ (such as Halo Infinite) means destroying your opponent’s fortifications and dismantling their base. In Minecraft you can obliterate a competitor’s structures. Even in multiplayer Tetris the goal is to destroy the opponent’s position. Destruction in video games often roughly imitates destruction in real life.
The Bible offers many examples of environments which were destroyed, particularly as a reflection of God’s judgment. I am thinking of the walls of Jericho or the demise of the Babylonian Empire as examples. But God also restores (ESV) all things.*
Restoring What Has Been Destroyed
So when your CTKid vents that his position was destroyed (do you ever ask about his gameplay?), what biblical lesson can you offer about overcoming destruction? What path toward perseverance can you map out? How can you help him translate that to real life?
[Because video games aren’t real life, right? Though they simulate it. Games are ‘constrained by their box.’ And they aren’t spirit led (although with AI people are beginning to think otherwise). But they can be a model for real life. (And gamers can also do things there they cannot do in real life, but that’s a different post.) Your pointing out a useful model can be instructive.]
So you say to your CTKid, a fellow named Nehemiah sought to restore what had been destroyed. The city’s walls were piles of rubble. Everyone’s safety there was at continual risk.
So Nehemiah mourned and fasted and prayed before God. Your CTKid may moan at this point; he’s not going to fast and pray over his video game (though he often does seem to mourn). But mourning, fasting and prayer are the process in a faithful life, so he may as well know that.
Maybe having your fortifications destroyed in Fortnite doesn’t require mourning, fasting, and prayer, but someday a situation outside of Steam or Xbox will. You go on.
The enemy had basically dismantled Nehemiah’s base. So he first repented for the people’s sins which had brought it to ruins.
He asked God for help rebuilding the town’s fortifications. He prayed at the beginning and at each step.
Then he took the action that he felt God was leading him toward.
Along the way he employed others’ talents and efforts.
He ignored the naysayers.
He stayed focused and never got discouraged to the point of abandoning his plan.
The community finally rebuilt their city wall because “the people worked with all their heart.”
When the naysayers turned more threatening, Nehemiah and his people protected themselves. Some worked with a trowel in one hand and a combat tool in the other. They posted guards.
At the first sign of trouble, they sounded the alert—a trumpet in this case. How do you ask for help from your teammates or squad? You genuinely want to know because you want to engage your CTKid. Listen.
Then finish your story: Primarily, they kept fighting for what was right, not fearing, and they focused on God.
They finished their task. And they could say, “Look at what God has done!”
How hard is it to rebuild what your opponents destroyed in your game? This question shows your empathy for his position. And it directs him toward a constructive mindset. Let the conversation continue as long as he’ll participate.
What Nehemiah Shows Us
The story of Nehemiah shows “how unpromising situations can be turned around through faithful action.” (1)
When your CTKid presents with a problem that requires restoring what has been destroyed, consider sharing Nehemiah’s story. Even if you only remember a fragment of it, use the part which you think will resonate with your CTKid.
Help him see destruction as merely a segue to restoration. This will be a constructive conceptualization for various contexts in his life ahead.
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*In fact, the story of Nehemiah restoring Jerusalem and setting them back on the right spiritual path would later “serve as the basis for the Judaism out of which Jesus and the early church emerge.” Fee & Stuart, “How to Read the Bible Book by Book” (2002), p. 113.
(1) IVP Academic, “The IVP Introduction to the Bible” (2006), p. 92.