When I was a child, I used to play with a toy called a Weeble.

Weebles were roly-poly toys, shaped rather like eggs, which would wobble vigorously but not fall down (hence the catchphrase ‘Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down!‘) Apparently the toy was based on sound principles of physics:

(A=position of mechanical equilibrium; B=position of mechanical instability; F=gravitational force; y=vertical axis; m1=low-density mass; m2=high-density mass; C=centroid. Note that between positions A and B, C raises slightly and becomes off-centre.)

They’ve been relaunched in the 21st century and you can now even buy ‘themed’ Weebles:

I haven’t thought about this childhood plaything for years, but just recently I’ve been observing how Christians often go through all kinds of difficult circumstances in life and can feel buffeted by trials and troubles. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 4: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Life can be tough at times and we often feel that we are reeling. How much more can we stand before we crack under the strain?

Paul, in this passage, reminds us that “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Cor 4:7) We may be surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralised; we may not be sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we may feel spiritually terrorised, but God hasn’t left our side; we may be thrown down, but we haven’t broken. In short, the Christian is indeed rather like a Weeble. We may wobble, but we won’t fall down, because God is able to keep us from falling (Jude 1:24)