Psalm 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

Verbs are action words. They indicate how the rest of the sentence relates to the subject. The subject of course is the Lord. What is unique is the object of the verb, you and me. He makes me, He leads me, He restores me are unique in relationship between our Lord and ourselves.

He makes us implies that we are subject to Him and that we have no choice. While my life experiences tell me that I have made choices and the results are consequences, both good and bad. Yet here I am in God’s will as if it didn’t matter what path I chose it would lead me here. God only knows how that happened. I know I don’t.

He leads me seems clearer. I am looking to follow. I see Him as the example. I see Him as the trusted guide. I am looking to what He is doing. Following is just a matter of vision, keeping my eyes upon Jesus. Yes I blink, yes I fall asleep, yes I get distracted, but my intention is to turn my eyes upon Jesus.

He restores is the most difficult. I don’t have any involvement in that. The other verbs requires cooperative effort on my part, an awareness, a response. Restoration happens not because I have done anything. It is not based on my actions, my vision, or my relationship. It happens because of who He is and what He wills. I am not involved because I would put a GPS system on a 1936 Cord Speedster during restoration and that was not in the design.

The bottom line is that I am going to pay a little more attention to the verbs in my life.