Good morning and a blessed Thursday to you.

I need to share with you something that happened. It was—well, it was traumatic for me.

If anyone knows how much I love apples, then you'll understand why this was traumatic.

I love apples. I love a good, crunchy apple. And oftentimes, you'll find that I peel my apple, or at the very least slice it into quarters, so that I can see if there are any bruises.

Because there is nothing worse than taking a bite into an apple and seeing a bruise. It ruins the whole experience.

Now, I understand this is very dramatic, but it happened just yesterday.

I bit into a beautiful, red, juicy, crunchy apple, and I looked down—and there was a huge bruise on the inside.

I inspected—and I mean, inspected—my apple before I even purchased it. I inspected my apple before I took a bite. It was so crisp and perfect, looking beautiful on the outside, that I didn't think I even needed to bother with cutting it open because there was no sign of anything being wrong.

And, of course, as with everything, I thought about the theological component.

Because I knew the moment that I bit into that perfect apple and realized that it was not perfect, I knew this is what we were going to talk about for this devotion.

Because, as I said, it was so traumatic for me!

But theologically, it made me think of the person who seems like they've got it all together. That they are perfect.

But we know that inside, they're not perfect.

Inside, they are a sinner, just like you and me.

And it doesn't matter how much we want to present ourselves as good and wonderful on the outside. We know that it is only by God's grace that we can be transformed on the inside and made into who He has created us to be.

It reminded me of a story in Scripture, a narrative that we have recorded.

If you'll please open your Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel, the 16th chapter.

1 Samuel, chapter 16.

This is after Israel had called for a king, and Saul was anointed king of Israel. And then Saul decided that Samuel was taking too long—the prophet was taking too long to come to the appointed place for making the sacrifice.

And so Saul took it upon himself to make a sacrifice to God and didn't do as he had been commanded by God through Samuel.

And so Samuel comes and says this kingship over Israel is going to be ripped from your hands. You are no longer going to be king.

So we pick up in the first verse of chapter 16, where the Lord said to Samuel:

“How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.”

And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.”

Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him, trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”

He said, “Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.”

And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely His anointed is now before the Lord.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord does not see as mortals see. They look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

And who ended up becoming king?

Who did the Lord have in mind and bring to Samuel's attention?

David.

A young boy who was a shepherd.

And yet God knew his heart.

You see, Samuel, the prophet of God, could not see the inner workings, the heart, of the people who stood before him.

But God knew.

God knew their hearts. And He knows the hearts of all who stand before Him.

And knowing our hearts, He went to the cross to die for the darkness of our hearts—the sin that we have in the depths of our being.

And He took that to the cross.

And He, and He alone, perfects us from the inside out.

It is through His grace and His mercy that He continues to transform us and mold us and shape us, getting rid of all those bruises of sin, all the imperfection, and continuing to pour Himself into us.

So that, little by little—or big chunks by big chunks—we are made beautiful from the inside out instead of the outside in.

Because it's the inside that counts.

It's the inside that matters to the Lord.

And it is the inside that the Lord Himself continues to shape every day by Word and Sacrament, through His grace.

What an awesome God we have!

We have a God who knows our inner bruises, our inner sin, our inner pain.

And yet He doesn't abandon us.

He doesn't walk away from us.

But He promises to walk with us, to carry us, to lead us, and to continue to make us exactly who He has created us to be in Him.

What a good God we have.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Lord, we thank You so much.

We thank You for Your continued provision—Your continued provision of love and mercy, of all that we need.

We thank You for shelter and food. We thank You for rain and sun. We thank You for our city, our state, our country.

We thank You that You are above all and that You are sovereign.

And that in Your sovereignty, You walk with us, You lead us, and You make us more and more to be the people that You have called and created us to be.

Lord, we thank You for Your goodness.

We thank You for Your grace.

We thank You for Your love.

And we thank You for Your mercy.

This we lift to You in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Have a great rest of your week.

I look forward to worshiping with you.

And, you know, I hope you get some good apples.

God bless.

Pastor Malinak