11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise! Psalm 36:11-12

King David lived in a world we’re familiar with. On the one hand, he’s overjoyed at being able to praise and worship God. And on the other is the world and all those who are against him. He’s not naive to believe that even though the Lord is all about caring for His people, there are not any bad people in the world.

We live in a fallen broken world. It’s not getting better. It’s not healing itself. It’s broken.

Our approach should be similar to David’s. We know from experience that there are evil people in the world. Fortunately we also know that we serve a loving, compassionate God.

Gazing at God while glancing at the world should be the goal.