Just do it afraid

Ezra 3:3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord …

I suppose that as long as we live on this earth there will always be someone or something around to cause us to be afraid, or to feel fear or feel threatened.  That should not, it cannot, be allowed to keep us from doing the right thing.  We should do what is right even if we feel afraid.  That is what the Jews did when they rebuilt the altar in Jerusalem.  Fear can paralyze us but only if we allow it to do so.  If our desire to please God and to honor Him is strong enough it will give us the extra courage we need to overcome our fear and do what needs to be done.  I remember reading the story of what a mother told her little girl who was afraid of doing something (I can’t remember what it was).  She said to the child, “Just do it afraid.”   It happened that way for those Jews in Ezra’s time and it can happen that way for us the 21^st century if we are as determined as they were.  The passage does not say why they were afraid of the people around them, but it does not really matter.  The important thing is that they went ahead in spite of their fear and did the right thing, the thing they should do.  They did it because of “what is written” (v.4).  After they took that initial step, they presented regular burnt offerings (v.5), so the first step was the hardest but it got them going on the right track and in the right direction.