Psalms 52:8 Meaning But as for Me

Saraṇa: Refuge Saraṇa is the shelter one goes to. Roots under the paving of God's house hold better than roots in open ground; the man who leaned on his own wealth and his own tongue had nothing under him and was pulled up whole. Shelter of this kind works as ground rather than as a wall, so the tree stands because of what it stands in.

Saddhā: Trust Saddhā is confidence placed in something that has proved worthy. Trusting God's loving kindness comes here from a man who has been hunted and who watched the priests at Nob cut down, so this confidence has already been tested and still holds. Trust like that keeps a person green through a dry season, which is why he can call himself flourishing while he is still on the run.

Mettā: Loving kindness Mettā is unlimited goodwill toward beings. Leaning on loving kindness "forever and ever" asks it to hold in every weather, and mettā is trained to do just that, given to the friend and to the informer alike. Anyone drawing life from such kindness and then refusing to pass it on is sawing off the branch they sit on.

Bhāvanā: Cultivation Bhāvanā means causing something to grow. Green is a slow color: an olive takes years of watering and pruning before it can keep its leaves through a drought, and steadiness in a person arrives the same way. Olives also live for centuries, so what is standing in that courtyard grew long before the boasting it answers and will outlast it.

Kamma: Action and its fruit Kamma is action together with the fruit it carries. Two trees stand in this ground: one torn up by the roots, one still heavy with oil, and each grew from what its owner had been doing all along. Fruit keeps its own calendar, so the greenness on show now is the late return on many small acts, the way an old orchard shows the care it was given years back.