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I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.
— Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire)
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Today, I want to remind you of something powerful yet profoundly simple: life is too serious for us to take ourselves too seriously.
Psalm 119:92 says—and this is my paraphrase based on the original Hebrew—“If your law had not been my plaything, I would have perished in my pain.”
Think about that—God’s law as a plaything. That might sound strange, but it’s what Jesus is getting at in Matthew 18: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 3).
Children don’t just hear words; they play with them. They don’t just see life; they dance with it. They live in the moment, curious, open, unafraid. And that’s the kind of faith God invites us into.
Life will give you affliction. Pain is real, and it will find you. But when it comes to health, play is the opposite of pain. It’s the space where wounds begin to heal, where hearts come back to life, where joy breaks through the heaviness.
And God’s law—His ways, His wisdom, His world—isn’t meant to be a burden; it’s meant to be a playground. A place where we learn to move with grace, to explore with wonder, to rest without fear.
Response
So this week, when the weight of life starts to press in, when the ache of old wounds begins to sting, remember that you have a plaything. You have the words of the One who made you, the rhythms of the One who knows how life works best.
Get playful with it. Ask God’s Spirit to show you joy in the ordinary. Let God take the pressure off. Because in your Father’s playground, you’re free to be a child again—curious, open, and fully alive.
Closing PRAYER
Let’s pray,
Father, thank You for making room for play in a world full of pain.
Help me to take Your words lightly and deeply,
to move through life with childlike faith,
to let go of the heaviness,
and to rediscover the joy of being Your child.
Let Your law be my plaything and my delight,
my place of healing and rest.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Playing with you,
Addison
P.S. I mention this each time because we always have new members—close to 40,000 now!—but if you don’t have the Words with God book yet, be sure to grab it from Amazon or the Messenger Store. It’ll help you playfully rediscover living prayer.
