On Rosh Hashanah, one of our main jobs is to be mamlich Hashem, to crown Hashem as our King. Part of that avodah is to feel happy that we are in Hashem's kingdom. Nechemiah told the Jewish people on Rosh Hashanah, "כִּי חֶדְוַת ה׳ הִיא מָעֻזְּכֶם — the joy of Hashem is your strength." What a zechut it is to be able to serve Hashem. How fortunate we are to be His children. How fortunate we are that He is our King.
Hashem gives us so many blessings, but very often we focus specifically on the one thing we don't have. Someone is waiting for a shidduch. Someone is waiting for a baby. Someone is struggling with parnassah. When we focus on what's missing, a person may begin to feel, "Hashem, why aren't You giving this to me already? Everyone else seems to have it." And those feelings could take away from the joy the person is supposed to have in his heart in being part of Hashem's kingdom. Part of our avodah is to know that if we don't have something right now, then right now, not having it is the absolute best thing for us. That may be extremely difficult to understand, but if we knew exactly what our purpose was in this world, we would say, "Hashem, thank You even for this chesed. I hope that tomorrow it will be best for me to receive what I'm asking for. But right now, if You didn't give it to me yet, I know there was nothing better for me."
We never want to doubt Hashem's chesed because of the way things appear to us. One day, Hashem is going to reveal Himself and show us how every single thing that took place in our lives was the best possible thing for us. Everything that seemed impossible to understand will become so clear. We'll look back and say, "I can't believe I thought that way. I thought this was so bad, and now I see how good it really was." Right now, in this world, we just don't have all the information.
Someone shared with me a story that he read which illustrates this beautifully. It was a quiet Sunday morning on a New York subway. The passengers were reading, resting, and enjoying a few peaceful moments. At one stop, a man got onto the train with his children, and within seconds, the atmosphere completely changed. The children were loud and unruly. They ran through the train, shouting at one another, disturbing the passengers, and even grabbing people's newspapers. Their father just sat down, closed his eyes, and seemed completely unaware of what was happening. As the frustration on the train grew, one passenger finally leaned over and said to him, "Sir, your children are disturbing everyone. Please, what are you going to do about your children?" The man slowly opened his eyes and said, "You're right. What am I going to do about my children? We just came from the hospital. Their mother passed away an hour ago. I don't know what I'm going to do about my children."
In that one instant, nothing changed, but everything changed. The children were still making noise. The father was still sitting there silently. But nobody on that subway saw an irresponsible father anymore. They saw a grieving husband and children whose world had just fallen apart. All they received was one piece of information, and suddenly the exact same scene looked completely different. That is how it's going to be when Hashem turns on the lights. We will be given the information we're missing now, and suddenly everything will look different. We'll say, "Hashem, now I understand. You were righteous the entire time. You were doing chesed with me the entire time. I just couldn't see it."
Our job is to know this truth even before Hashem turns on the lights. We can be happy with what He gives us and trust Him also with happiness when He doesn't give us, knowing that everything He does is for our good. We are supposed to feel a genuine joy to be part of Hashem's kingdom. Our King loves us. He knows exactly what we need. He is always doing what is absolutely best for us. When we truly believe that, we will feel so fortunate and happy to be in Hashem's kingdom, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.