Isaiah 41:6 Meaning Everyone Helps His Neighbor

Courage is contagious, and it usually has to be spoken from one frightened person to another before either can move. Under threat the men turn toward each other instead of scattering, each steadying the one beside him with a word he half needs himself. The help is practical, hand joined to hand, but the sentence matters as much as the labor. Told to take heart, a man finds a little more heart than he had alone.

Fear isolates first. That isolation is where it does its worst work. Someone says, be strong, and the saying loans strength across the gap between two people. Ordinary human beings hold a line against chaos exactly this way. They stand close, they lend nerve, and they do not let each other face the dark alone.