A Heart Like His: Intimate Reflections on the Life of David

In this extended reflection on the life of David, drawn from the accounts in the two books of Samuel and from the Psalms, author and self-described Sunday school teacher Beth Moore translates into plain and direct language the message she finds in this story of a shepherd boy who is chosen as God's own servant. Moore approaches these texts not as a scholar but as a believer. As the inclusion of review questions would suggest, her interest here is less historical and more immediately pragmatic: she wishes to see what David's life has to say to followers of Christ. Her reading is personal, yet supported by a study of the Hebrew and Greek texts--above all, the notes to the book suggest, through a number of Bible dictionaries and concordances. While apparently not well-versed in English poetry (she calls John Dryden a 16th-century philosopher when most would call him a 17th-century poet), the real appeal of the book for many will lie in its approachable style: the writing is direct, personal, and honest. She writes, she tells people, as a "regular" person who says, "I don't make Christ part of my life; He is my life." --Doug Thorpe