(Author’s Note: This article is not a recommendation or endorsement of this game/franchise and is written for the purposes of commenting on a missing feature from the game and its’ implications. As with all entertainment and media consumption, we advise all to adhere to Biblical principles as well as their own individual convictions from the Lord).

After many years of patiently waiting, eager fans finally got their hands on Diablo IV and discovered a few unwelcome surprises… most notably, that the game’s persistent online connection removed the ability to PAUSE the game while playing it. That’s right, even when playing the game in single player, this game can NOT be paused… so if you are in the middle of an intense battle and the phone rings, someone knocks at the door, or it is simply time to pull the noodles you are boiling for macaroni and cheese off of the stove top, SOMETHING is going to go unanswered. Either you will have to allow your character to face combat without any defense while you see to these real-world problems, or those noodles aren’t going to turn out quite as “al dente” as you had hoped. While we all realize that in a multiplayer environment it simply doesn’t make sense for one player to be able to pause the action while the rest of the participants wait for them to return, it was truly shocking that the pause function was removed from the single-player experience. The “always online” nature of games like Diablo IV already forces gamers to remain connected at all times while playing and limits the ability to “mod” aspects of the game… but the inability to pause and safely step away for a moment to use the restroom, research our current predicament for solutions, or just take a break and regroup makes the experience even more restricting. And as streamer Souaïb ‘cArn’ Hanaf found out the hard way, this can result in losing ALL of our hard-earned progress and gear to more than just enemies in battle, but even to issues within the game itself.

Of all the various button presses I have made over the years, the pause button is one of the more under-appreciated but ultra-critical secrets to my success. The option to simply stop in the middle of the madness and intensity of the game and find a place of calm before proceeding has played out to my benefit MANY times, but it is also a very PRACTICAL helper as well. If the real world around me gets crazy or an unexpected interruption occurs, the pause button allows me to focus on these pressing matters without losing my place in the virtual world I was participating in. And in the heat of battle, the pause button provides the ability to seek guidance BEFORE I face failure and reach the dreaded “Game Over” screen. And while many situations in life try to press me into a state of urgency that prevents me from effectively “pausing” before I proceed, the reality is that pushing “pause” is more than just an added feature available to us in the real world… it is a necessity.

Almost EVERY challenge we face in life has a time component built into it… we have a limited number of days on this planet, a finite number of hours in the day, and there is often a very specific (and often perishable) window of opportunity for many of the decisions we must make along the way. These time-constraints create a sense of urgency that can often bully us into making choices that are either uninformed, premature, or simply misaligned with our current mission. When we layer in the added pressures of the needs and wants of others and ourselves, we can easily find ourselves jumping into decisions that we will quickly regret because we didn’t press “pause” and seek the most important guidance FIRST… a lesson that Joshua learned the hard way.

Most of us are probably familiar with the epic story of Joshua and his miraculous victory at Jericho when his patient obedience to the seemingly odd battle strategy of marching around the walls resulted in a resounding success (Joshua 6), but fresh off of his victories at both Jericho and Ai, he was faced with a NEW challenge… one that didn’t come in the familiar shape of a straight-forward battle but in the form of a crafty deception.

Joshua 9:3-9 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.” Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you?” But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?” So they said to him: “From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God; for we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt.”

The Gibeonites were seeing an uncomfortable pattern emerge with those who were in the path of the Israelites… and they were not interested in being next on the list of Joshua’s successful conquests. Unfortunately for them, Joshua had been given very specific guidance to conquer the land and eliminate the previous inhabitants (Joshua 9:24), and that did not bode well for them. But rather than face the Israelites in an unwinnable land battle, the Gibeonites opted for a strategy that would play off of the hospitality that was built into the laws and customs of the people… pretending to be distant travelers seeking to make an alliance. While a quick press of the “pause button” to seek clarity from the Lord would have exposed this ruse for the manipulation that it was, one of the saddest phrases in the Bible was recorded in verse 14… “they did not ask counsel of the Lord”.

Joshua 9:14-16 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the Lord. So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them.

On the surface, it is easy to point the blame at Joshua and his advisors and wonder why they would fall for such a simple trick. But the reality is that we are ALL prone to making the exact same compromising decisions when we fail to take advantage of our “always online” relationship with the Lord and make an assumptive choice based on what we “think” the Lord would want us to do. We recall a random verse or two about what the Lord has done previously and decide to claim that guidance for ourselves without keeping that portion of Scripture IN CONTEXT as well as allowing the Lord Himself to provide us with the appropriate interpretation for our current circumstances. Here is a challenging reality that plays out MULTIPLE times across the Bible… while the Lord Himself is always the same (Hebrews 13:8), He has a unique response and individualized guidance for EACH of His children that is specifically designed for the EXACT circumstance we are currently in… and that means we must “press pause” and go to Him for EVERY step we take before we make the next move, even if we are doing something that seems VERY similar to guidance we have received from Him previously. As we will see in the examples below, in His sovereignty the Lord will often give the SAME individual a different answer to the SAME question… all to reinforce that we never attempt to move forward in our own strength or wisdom and as a result take the glory that rightfully belongs to Him alone.

MOSES: When seeking water in the wilderness, Moses was told to strike a rock to provide water for the people (Exodus 17:6)… but the next time Moses was in an identical position he was instructed to SPEAK to the rock, NOT hit it (Numbers 20:7-12). When Moses chose to do what he had done before instead of do the new thing he was asked to do, his failure resulted in never entering the Promised Land.

JOSHUA: In Joshua 6, Joshua was told to march around Jericho until their walls fell to defeat them, and ALL of the spoil of the battle would be given as an offering to the Lord. When one soldier (Achan) failed to follow this rule, the following battle ended in failure and loss. In Joshua 8, Joshua was told to directly attack the city of Ai and keep the spoils of the battle for the people. Different strategies, different guidance, all to ensure the Lord would receive all the glory.

JESUS: Jesus healed blind people ALL the time… but each time He seemed to do it in a different way that was personalized to the individual rather than adhering to some sort of “repetitive spiritual formula”. He spit on the ground and made mud to heal a blind man’s eyes in John 9, He performed a “double-tap” of healing by spitting directly into another man’s eyes to partially heal him before finishing it with a second touch in Mark 8, He healed two blind men with just a touch (no spit this time) in Matthew 9, and in Mark 10 Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus without touching him at all.

As the pattern emerges, one thing becomes crystal clear… our walk of faith with Christ is ANYTHING but wash, rinse, and repeat. Our path in life is illuminated by the Lord ONE step at a time (Psalm 119:105), and it is only through an intentional combination of His written Word AND a prayerful approach to EVERY decision we make that we can avoid falling for the deceptions and scams that will masquerade as His will. Many times I have fallen for the oldest trick in the book… doing what I THINK the Lord wants me to do instead of “pressing pause” and asking what He wants me to do in THIS specific situation. And while my intentions may be good, like Joshua, I have often permitted the “Trojan horse” of the enemy to sneak in through the details that I didn’t submit to Him for review. I have allowed my familiarity with a handful of Scriptures to give me a feeling of over-confidence that “I don’t need to bring this one to God, I already know what to do here”. Or maybe my own feelings of insignificance or thinking this problem is too small to matter have led to me saying “I will handle this one, I am probably just bothering Him.” And in each of these situations, these little Gibeonites sneak in undetected just as the Scripture speaks about in Song of Solomon 2:15 when referencing that it is “the small foxes that spoil the vine”.

Too many times in life I have fallen victim to “the devil in the details”… from thinking I could get 10 CD’s for a single penny from Columbia House (it was a thing, look it up), to making decisions on relationships, jobs, financial decisions, or other life choices without bringing each of my decisions to the Lord FIRST. It is a demonic deception that tells us that the Lord is disinterested, too busy, or somehow disappointed in us for bringing EVERY one of our burdens, small or large, to Him in prayer. Feeling pressure to make a decision without first consulting the Lord is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and any choice we make that does not allow us to prayerfully seek His wisdom and guidance before responding will ALWAYS end up with a deal involving compromise that He never intended for us to accept. Many decades later in an outcome nobody would have foreseen except the Lord, King Saul would attack the Gibeonites in violation of this treaty, and this would result in a horrific three-year famine for the people of Israel as well as fatal consequences for many people who had nothing to do with any of these choices (2 Samuel 21). While the Lord still ultimately used the unintended presence of the Gibeonites to serve His grander purpose due to His incredible grace and mercy, this was a painful lesson with future ramifications that could have been easily been prevented if Joshua had simply “pressed pause” to seek the Lord in prayer.

Pressing “pause” in a game may not always feel like the most courageous thing to do… it implies that we need a break, are currently stuck, or need some help. And it can often feel that way in our real-world lives as well, as we may often default to making our own decisions in our own wisdom instead of seeking the Lord’s guidance because we are trying to act quickly, confidently, and efficiently… all at the expense of His larger plan. The “What Would Jesus Do?” concept sounds great in theory, but it often results in us moving in a way that feels right to us or seems consistent with His character but is still not allowing the Lord the opportunity to open our eyes to the bigger picture. As we saw over and over and OVER again in Christ’s physical sojourn on this planet, the answer to the question “What Would Jesus Do” was that He would stop and PRAY (Matthew 14:3, Mark 1:35, Luke 6:12, and we would run out of space if we kept going on this). There are plenty of options in life that will SEEM right (Proverbs 14:12), but it is only when we intentionally pause and make room for the wisdom and knowledge of the Almighty that we will avoid the traps and pitfalls that await those who act with good intentions but no INSTRUCTIONS.

The hardest part of coping with the lack of a “pause game” option in games like Diablo IV isn’t just the overwhelming pressure we feel to press forward without being able to stop in the middle of the battle to seek support, but that there may be unintended outcomes from the decisions we make that will not reveal themselves until much, MUCH later. And because of this, we may think everything worked out… leading us to continue to play from this uniformed place without realizing we are doubling down on our original poor decisions. And many times in my life, I have fallen victim to this exact same flawed thinking, making one errant choice after another while confidently marching down a path to a defeat of my own making… all while convincing myself I was on a crusade that the Lord approved of. The Lord not only instructed us to pray without ceasing, but He told us that the answer to the anxiousness we feel was to bring EVERYTHING to Him in prayer (Philippians 4:6)… and the Greek word pás that is used here means, you guessed it, EVERYTHING. It means ALL the things…. and ironically, it is pronounced the same way as the English word “pause”. The Lord is NEVER too busy to hear our prayers, and there is NOTHING that is too small to bring to Him. He wants us to PAUSE and bring EACH of our burdens to Him in prayer, every day, all the time. And when He says bring everything, He means it 🙂

• Like us?  Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, TikTok, or YouTube for our articles, podcasts, and videos!
• Facebook: Finding God in Video Games
• Twitter: @FindingGodIn_VG
• Instagram: Finding God in Video Games
• Podcasts on Spotify/Apple/Google: Finding God in Video Games
• TikTok: @FindingGodInVideoGames
• YouTube: Finding God in Video games
• Video versions of our articles are available here: