Ezra 3:3: Despite Fear
Sunday, November 2, 2025
Several years ago we looked at the third chapter of Ezra to explore the options we have when we return from exile or a place of great sadness. We read about how these chastened people return to a place that had once been special to them. We see how they gather themselves after tragedy to find joy once more. We understand that they come together in celebration to restore what was lost . . . despite their great fear.
Fear is clearly an obstacle but it also a strong motivator. It can paralyze us and keep us from moving forward; it can also propel us into action without our knowing precisely where we are going or how we will get there. We each know the sensation that stops us in our tracks when fear grips the heart and churns the stomach. We also know the feeling of wild horror that urges us to escape and even run away when fear sends us into the blindness of panic. Today we watch a people full of fear gather themselves to return to something they know to be sacred. These people can show us how to return to what we once loved, even when we believe it to be lost forever.
They return from exile; they examine how and what they need to change; they thank God for their deliverance; they move forward with and in God.
They gather themselves; they take a head count; they take inventory together; they agree to a plan; they move forward with and in God.
They follow through with their plan; they rely on one another; they leave no one behind; they celebrate success; they move forward with and in God.
They who had been taken into exile now return cautiously; and they move forward with and in God.
They who had known only mourning are weighed down by pain; still they move forward with and in God.
They who wept for their loss yearn for new hope and restoration . . . and so they move forward with and in God.
They who know nothing but darkness look for peace and reunion . . . and so they move forward with and in God.
When we are bereft of all that once was familiar, when we have been carried away to a place that is alien, when we tremble with the coldness of a fear that strangles us, we – like the people we read about today – turn to God and the sureness of his mercy. We call on this compassionate God to remove the bitter panic that grips us. We ask this kind and gentle God to restore our confidence and joy. And we follow this God – no matter where he leads – through the chill of the dark night to the warmth of a new presence and serenity. And we ask this despite all our fear.
A re-post from October 8, 2011.
Images from: http://www.greatjewishmusic.com/Moods/Serenity.htm and http://listverse.com/2007/08/20/top-10-bizarre-phobias/
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