Isaiah 41:7
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
The verse pictures idol-makers heartening each other on in their task, the carpenter cheering the goldsmith while the one who smooths with the hammer and the one who strikes the anvil pronounce the work ready for soldering and then fasten it with nails so that it will not topple or be moved. It stands in Isaiah 41-45, where God makes known His purpose for His people very fully, and those chapters are to be studied prayerfully. It belongs to a declaration from the Lord that is full of promises, encouragement, and assurance, to be read and fulfilled in the latter days, and His word in it will certainly be fulfilled, so that those who fulfill it place themselves where He will surely do all He has promised.
It does not direct God's people to turn away from God to look to finite man for wisdom, to trust in men, or to make flesh their arm, but to make the Lord alone their trust and to seek God's wisdom, for the Lord is not to be trifled with. Isaiah 41 calls for a more marked and decided work before the second appearing of Jesus Christ, and the whole chapter is to be read for these last days, the verse meaning that the gospel is to be given to all nations, tongues, and peoples to prepare the way for that appearing. The chapter calls God's people to diligent work for repentance and to most earnest work, and strength is to be given to His own people.
That preparation requires minds controlled by God, since God gave men minds and faculties to cultivate, improve, expand, elevate, and ennoble for immortal life and for duties in their spheres. Satan seeks to control minds through intemperance of every description, pleasure-loving, liquor-drinking, tobacco, opium and other drugs that weaken the hold on life, and through horse racing, cardplaying, cricket and football matches that enfeeble the intellect, making preparation for the future immortal life impossible. The verse comforts true believers amid God's afflicting providence coming upon the world in judgments near the closing of this earth's history — earthquakes, storms on land and sea, and heavy calamities by sea and railroad — when even the sincere, humble, righteous followers of Christ are themselves afflicted by judgments upon the rebellious. At that time Lucifer the fallen angel, perverted in his higher education, wars against God and all who exalt the Lord, does his best to cause calamities, and acts as a mighty deceiver to take many from the ranks and unite them to be deceived.