How many of you know what a Weeble is? How many of you owned a Weeble as a child? Do any of you have one still? Do you remember the slogan for Weebles? Weebles wobble…(but they don’t fall down). Now for kids, Weebles are like magic. Why is it that when I push this thing over it bounces right back up? For those of us who are adults, we recognize that there are scientific principles at play. If anyone wants a rundown on what those scientific principles are, don’t talk to me cause I don’t really understand it. That being said, even knowing the science behind them, the fact that no matter how many times you knock them over, they keep getting right back up is kind of magical. It’s also a great metaphor for life.

This week, as I was preparing to write this sermon, April got a frantic text from our son that the Gering high school was on lockdown and there were rumors of a shooter in the building. It was a terrifying morning as we waited on pins and needles for news of what was happening. Tears were shed, paths were worn in the carpeting from nervous pacing, fingernails were chewed on, and eventually angry words were shouted. When it was finally determined that the whole thing was a hoax that had been started at schools all over the state, there was a mixture of relief, frustration, and rage. When the building had been thoroughly scoured by the police, the school began releasing students to go home with their parents for the remainder of the day. I went and picked up Jakob and brought him to the church office for a bit. We talked about all that had happened and the emotions surrounding it for all of us. Then we talked about why someone would do something like that. And we concluded that the only logical reason was to cause fear, panic, and chaos. To knock us down. To crush our spirits. Then Jakob said something that I found very profound. I don’t remember his exact words, but this was the basic gist: They wanted to knock us down, but they failed. Because we will get up. We always get back up.

Psalm 16 talks to us about a God who protects us, a God in whom we take refuge. This same God gives us counsel and instruction. The Psalmist writes, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.” These lines reflect something deeply important to the Hebrew people. Having been slaves in Egypt and before and after that having been wanderers searching for the land of promise, having a homeland that they could call their own was of great importance to them. So the Psalmist’s words about boundary lines and heritage are references to their share in the Promised Land. But underneath that all is this belief that God provides for God’s people. God provided then and God provides now.

But God’s provision, as well as God’s protection, is not about material things. Psalm 16 is not a message along the lines of the Prayer of Jabez or Creflo Dollar. Our inheritance is not a Staples Easy Button. We can’t just ask for what we want, press a button, and magically get it. God’s provision is about our hearts and souls. God provides things like hope and peace and calm in the midst of the storms of life. God’s protection is not always a forcefield that blocks all the evil and painful stuff from getting to us. God’s protection is more like a first aid kit or someone jumping in front of a bullet for us. God’s protection looks like the cross of Christ. It looks like God sacrificing of Godself to raise us up from the dust. God granting us a portion of his Spirit when he breathed life into us.

Verse 8 of Psalm 16 says, “I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Another possible translation of the word for “be moved” in this verse is “be shaken” or “totter.” Many of us know that word “totter” from the beloved piece of playground equipment known as the teeter totter. Now, both teeter and totter mean “to move unsteadily.” And the verb form “teeter-tottering” has come to mean “balancing precariously on something.” With God at our right hand we will not be balancing precariously on something. Rather than a teeter totter, I think we are more like the Weeble. We may wobble at times, but we don’t fall down. God lifts us back up everytime.

I received a call this week from another church in our area that was using the same program we use to livestream their church services. They told me that they had been unable to livestream for a couple of weeks because something was wrong with their setup. I agreed to stop over later that day to take a look at it. At first, things were going well. Their camera was not communicating with the program anymore and I was able to fix that quickly. But then they showed me that the stream was not working. I tried several things to get it working and kept getting the same error. At that point, I was pretty well ready to give up. But I don’t really like being bested by technology. So I did some research and reached out to the company who makes the software. After several emails back and forth with the company, I was no nearer getting it working than I had been before. I felt dismayed. I felt beaten and knocked down. But something inside me told me to keep going. Perhaps it was sheer stubbornness, very possible. Or maybe it was God lifting me back up a little. But I kept trying things. It took a while yet, but I finally got the stream to work. I had been knocked down, but I popped right back up. That is how God’s provision and protection work in our lives. When we are knocked down, God lifts us back up.

“The story is told that Andrew Jackson’s boyhood friends just couldn’t understand how he became a famous general and then the President of the United States. They knew of other men who had greater talent but who never succeeded. One of Jackson’s friends said, “Why, Jim Brown, who lived right down the pike from Jackson, was not only smarter but he could throw Andy three times out of four in a wrestling match. But look where Andy is now.”

Another friend responded, “How did there happen to be a fourth time? Didn’t they usually say three times and out?”

“Sure, they were supposed to, but not Andy. He would never admit he was beat—he would never stay ‘throwed.’ Jim Brown would get tired, and on the fourth try Andrew Jackson would throw him and be the winner.”

Picking up on that idea, someone has said, “The thing that counts is not how many times you are ‘throwed,’ but whether you are willing to stay ‘throwed.’”

Jesus is the ultimate example of not staying ‘throwed.’ Jesus was arrested, beaten, and hung from a cross. He was knocked down as far as anyone could be. Most looked upon it and believed Jesus to be finished, done with, game over. But Jesus did not stay down. He went to the grave, but he rose back up. Jesus was, as Paul says, “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” And that is our inheritance from God. That is God’s provision and protection for us. That we will get knocked down, but God will lift us back up again.

John writes about this in chapter three when he says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” We may not perish, John says. But John does not say that we will not get knocked down. But John also says that we may have eternal life. Just as Jesus did, we will get knocked down at times. Sometimes we may even get knocked down pretty hard. But the hope for us in those times is that Jesus can lift us back up. We are like God’s Weebles. We wobble, sometimes pretty hard, but we don’t fall down. With God’s help, we bounce back up. As the Psalmist says, “With God at our right hand, we shall not be shaken.”

What has been knocking you down lately? What has felt like a heavy burden and has you balancing precariously on the precipice? What would it look like for God to lift you back up from that? Despite what it is that is knocking you down, do not give up hope. Do not think that you could never recover or find your way back to a good spot. Do not think that you will never reach that promised land of goodness and fruitfulness. You are God’s Weebles. You may get knocked down, maybe even over and over again, but God will always be there to help pick you back up.

I want to end this sermon with some hope-filled lines from a couple of poems that you may recognize. If you do, they are sure to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day (so….sorry about that). This first is a poem by the great poet Chumbawumba:

I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down.

The second is perhaps the poem most featured in memes on the internet. It is a great word about God’s protection and God’s promise to pick us back up every time we fall. It goes like this:

“Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna turn around and forget you.”

Go forth as God’s Weebles, recognizing that you will be knocked down from time to time, but God will always be there to lift you back up. “With God at our right hand, we shall not be shaken.” Amen!