Beneficial Opposition

This afternoon, I ran a game of D&D for others for the first time in several months. As the DM, it's my job to create obstacles for the characters to overcome. These obstacles include monsters, riddles, traps, puzzles, and environmental hazards. All of these things are meant to be challenging, and many of them can be harmful, or even deadly, but that's just how the game works. The tougher the obstacles the characters overcome, the stronger they become, allowing them to tackle even greater obstacles and gain even greater strength. That's how D&D works.

It's how real life works, too. God gives us challenges in the forms of afflictions, commandments, and even temptations (or at least allows them to happen), at least partly so we can gain experience from those challenges and grow into stronger people. So, even though God puts afflictions into our path, that doesn't mean that He's trying to destroy us or stop our progress. In fact, it's quite the opposite; God give us challenges so we can grow. Like a good DM, God tailors our challenges to our individual needs and abilities. God is not an antagonist. Rather, He's helping us become the best we can be.

In D&D, the DM is not fighting against the players, even though the DM is the one controlling all the villains and monsters. Those villains and monsters exist to help the characters become stronger, and in that way, these obstacles actually help the characters improve. Similarly, in real life, God is not fighting against us, even though He's the one creating many of our afflictions. Those afflictions exist to help make us stronger, and in that way, those afflictions actually help us.

God would be a good DM for many reasons, and one of them is that He is already a master of providing beneficial opposition.