It occurred to me recently, that the over-powering lust that Yehudah felt for Tamar that pushed him to sin, and the lust that Dovid Hamelech felt for Bat Sheva when he took her for a wife; both of these "lustings" ended up becoming the harbingers of Moshiach through Hashem's wondrous divine plan! (From Tamar came Peretz, and from Bat Sheva came Shlomo Hamelech).
Let us examine this a bit closer. After David took Bat Sheva, Hashem punished David with many punishments because of this. As it says: "Sword will never leave your home for ever" and "I shall bring up evil from your own house (Avshalom)", and "the son that (Bat Sheva) bore you shall die". And all these curses truly did befall David, and David did a tremendous Teshuvah on it. But the next son that Bat Sheva bore him was called Shlomo, and the Pasuk says that Hashem loved him and called his name "Yedidyah - the loved one of Hashem"... And he was the one to build the Beis Hamikdash - and from him the Moshiach will come!
From this we can get a glimpse of the wondrous ways that Hashem runs the world. We lust, we fall, and we are punished too! But at the end of the day, it is this very lusting, these very sins, the punishments we received and the subsequent Teshuvah that we did, that ultimately bring forth the greatest light!
How appropriate this message is for us now during the nine days, and especially on Rosh Chodesh Av! (see the Torah thought below on this idea as well). We are in a period where we mourn the great tragedies that befell the Jewish people as a result of our sins. But it is this very darkness that will one day be the cause for the greatest light. We sinned, we were punished, Yerushalayim and the Beis Hamikdash lay in ruins, and all looks lost! Yet from within these very ruins, the great light begins to shine forth...
Our "deeds" are like our children, as Chazal say "Ma'aseihem shel Tzadikim Toldoseihem - the deeds of the righteous are their children"... After our first "son" (born in sin) dies, the next "son" who is born to us - after our Teshuvah - is more beloved to Hashem than any other child in the world! As the Zohar says (see Chizuk e-mail #351 on this page), there can be no light that doesn't come first through darkness.
And as we saw from those two people who we quoted above; the greatest darkness has the potential to bring out the greatest light!
So when feeling down, depressed, needy and vulnerable (moods which are especially prevalent during this time of year), know that the great darkness of the nine days is a precursor to the greatest light of all. And the darkness we feel inside us, is really the harbinger of the great light in our souls - just waiting for the moment when it can finally burst forth!