When asked how we can increase our love for Hashem, Rabbi Akiva Eiger pointed out that before the Shema prayer, which contains the commandment to love Hashem, we say a prayer about Hashem’s intense love for us. He explained that the reason is that realizing that Hashem loves us automatically unleashes our love for Him. When we experience His love for us, we instinctively love Him in return, and our ability to feel His presence is much greater.
The Yalkut Shimoni (226) relates that when Pharaoh was sent to Gehenom to be punished eternally, he was comforted in some small way when he saw that other wicked rulers who had persecuted the Jews would be joining him. Hashem admonished Pharaoh for his reaction, telling him, “You are comforted!? I still am not comforted about what you did to My nation!”
Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz, zt”l, commented that within Hashem’s reprimand of Pharaoh, we see a little of how far His love for us goes. The Jews had just been saved in a miraculous fashion, and their tormentors had been punished. Nevertheless, Hashem was not comforted from the pain He felt over the Jews’ prior suffering. At the same moment that He miraculously saved His chosen nation — the greatest demonstration of His might and glory — Hashem still felt pain for the suffering we had endured.
But the lesson we take from this Midrash goes even further. We know that Hashem knows better than we do what is best for us. This might make us mistakenly conclude that Hashem does not care how we feel. We might even imagine that He demands that we ignore whatever pain we suffer because everything is really for the best. Yet we see from this Midrash that this cannot be further from the truth. We did not end up suffering as slaves in Egypt by accident. Hashem made it happen, and He did it for very important reasons. Though it might be difficult to understand, our enslavement was for our best. Nevertheless, Hashem still felt our pain, and He continued feeling it while we were rejoicing over finally becoming free!
This is but a minuscule demonstration of Hashem’s great love for us. Hashem’s compassion is unlimited. He is never indifferent to our suffering, even if we really deserve much worse. He guides every detail of our lives with love and care. He is our biggest fan Who still believes in us and values us no matter what we have done. He is rooting for us to emerge victorious from the challenges He gave us so that we could reach greatness. No one is more on our side than Hashem!