You and I have no chance.

Of the increase of His government and peace

there shall be no end

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this (Isaiah 9:7).

Zeal is “fervor for a person, cause, or object; eager desire or endeavor; enthusiastic diligence; ardor.” In the original Hebrew it is qin’ah, which grows out of the root word for jealousy.

God is zealous — jealous — for His plans and His people — for you and for me. He will do what He wants, say what He wishes, and have what He wills. He will see that we remain faithful and that the happy ending comes true.

You and I have no chance against the zeal of the Lord.

Our fears and our flaws. Our plans and our purposes. Our excuses and our exhaustion.

Heaven and earth and everything in between have no purchase against the mighty, rolling will of God.

Our anxiety can’t stop Him and our worry can’t change Him. Our politics can’t alter His plans. If He has called us sons and daughters, a mighty avalanche of our failures cannot make us orphans again.

His government and peace will increase even though we might not feel it.

His throne is established over the kingdom even though we might not see it.

His justice and righteousness will prevail even though we might taste heartbreak for now.

Why do we strive for perfection when He has already purchased it? Why do we stay stuck in our failures when He Himself is our success?  What if it didn’t matter if we were the best because we knew that The Best loved us wholeheartedly — that we were the very reason for His plan from this time forth and forevermore?

You and I don’t have to hold things back — to hold it all together. We don’t have a chance, anyway.

The zeal of the Lord will do this.

This is our joy and our strength and our rest.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it (I Thessalonians 5:14).