This action teaches a deep practical lesson to all the servants of God. There are two things by which it is superinduced, namely, the fear of man's wrath, and the hope of man's favor. The servant of the living God should neither regard the one nor the other. What avails the wrath or favor of a poor mortal to one who holds the divine commission and enjoys the divine presence? It is, in the judgment of such an one, less than the small dust of the balance. "_Have not I commanded thee?_ Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for _the Lord thy God is with thee_ whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua i. 9.) "Thou, therefore, gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them _all that I command thee_: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for _I am with thee_, saith the Lord, to deliver thee." (Jer. i. 17-19.) When the servant of Christ stands upon the elevated ground set forth in the above quotations, he will not "look this way and that way;" he will act on wisdom's heavenly counsel--"Let thine eyes look straight on, and thine eyelids look straight before thee." Divine intelligence will ever lead us to look upward and onward. Whenever we look around to shun a mortal's frown or catch his smile, we may rest assured there is something wrong; we are off the proper ground of divine service. We lack the assurance of holding the divine commission and of enjoying the divine presence, both of which are absolutely essential. True, there are many who, through profound ignorance, or excessive self-confidence, stand forward in a sphere of service for which God never intended them, and for which He therefore never qualified them. And not only do they thus stand forward, but they exhibit an amount of coolness and self-possession perfectly amazing to those who are capable of forming an impartial judgment about their gifts and merits. But all this will very speedily find its level; nor does it in the least interfere with the integrity of the principle that nothing can effectually deliver a man from the tendency to "look this way and that way" save the consciousness of the divine commission and the divine presence. When these are possessed, there is entire deliverance from human influence, and consequent independence. No man is in a position to serve others who is not wholly independent of them; but a man who knows his proper place can stoop and wash his brethren's feet.