Some years ago I wrote a fairly long story. In the midst of writing it, I thought of a plot direction that would take the story in a dark direction and subject the characters to a lot of pain and even danger. It probably would have been a deeper story, and maybe better, but I said to myself, “I hate to do that to my characters.” I liked them too much.
There’s something paradoxical about this. I was the creator of these characters; they were completely under my control. They did nothing I did not plan and dictate. But it turned out that there was, in some strange way, a two-way relationship between us. I directed the characters, but somehow they influenced me. Many authors talk like this about their characters and stories. One author claimed to write in order to find out what happened to the characters. Another “came to know” the characters in the process of writing.
I think this is a kind of human version of what God does. The difference is that while I can’t give genuine life and reality to my characters, God can. But as my characters came to have an effect on me, and even to arouse my compassion for them, in an even more real way we arouse God’s compassion and affect him.
Many philosophers and theologians would say that this is not possible, that God is not affected by us, since if we caused some change in his state it would detract from his perfection. I believe that this way of looking at God reflects Greek thought rather than a biblical view of God. The Bible talks of a God who has regrets, who is hurt by our betrayal, who pities us as a father pities his children.
The experience of imagining characters and working out their destiny has, I think, given me some insight into the kind of thing God does in bringing us into being and entering into real relationships with us.