Eric's Beijing Diary

Writer Philip Yancey was speaking yesterday on "The Agony of Victory and the Thrill of Defeat." He was in Beijing for a weekend seminar hosted by BICF. I didn't have time to go to the seminar, but I was interested to hear what he had to say. I haven't really been a big fan of Philip Yancey--he isn't what I would call an expository preacher. But I have to admit, he is a pretty good story teller. He was juxtaposing the life of David with the woman who washed the feet of Jesus.

It's kinda ironic, because I had just been thinking about David. I have been doing a study of the historical books, and I was impressed with the way God approaches Solomon and tells him of all the blessing that would be his if he would "walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness..." (2 Kings 9:4). It is really a statement of God's mercy, because we all know some things about David that might cause us to question such words of praise.

Then Saturday night at a Bible study, a guy handed me this book out of the blue called "The Making of a Man of God." British writer by the name of Alan Redpath. It's a study of the life of David. So I was somehow not surprised when Philip Yancey chose to talk about David. His whole theme was an attempt to answer the question that so naturally comes to mind as to why God saw David with such favor even after all he had done. Yancey went through several of the Psalms, and explained them in the light of what was happening in the life of David at the time they were written. Over and over again, one gets a picture of a man whose focus is on God, and the part He plays in the molding of our lives. In spite of everything, David truly was a man after God's own heart.