Sometimes verbs are more powerful without all of their accompanying grammatical clothing. Consider these naked verbs from the 147th psalm. In describing God’s activities in their most stripped down forms, the psalmist says that God:

• Builds up
• Gathers
• Heals (the brokenhearted)
• Binds up (wounds)
• Determines
• Calls (by name)
• Sustains
• Casts down (wickedness)
• Covers
• Supplies
• Provides
• Delights
• Strengthens
• Blesses
• Satisfies
• Grants peace
• And reveals His word

No wonder the psalmist concludes with an awed and humbled, “Praise the Lord.”

Where has God done this in your life? Where is He doing it now? The more we repeatedly turn our lives toward God the more we encounter the rescuing power of these naked verbs.