We say in shacharis, אליו שוועם בעת ישראל לעמו ועונה, "Hashem answers our tefillos at the time we call out to Him." Reb Don Segal Shlita explains that in our generation, there is a concept called "voice mail." This means that someone calls now, and the other party listens to the message later on. But Hashem listens to our tefillos אליו שוועם בעת, at the time we call out to Him. Literally, at the time we call out to Hashem, Hashem hears and answers our tefillos.
When things appear bad to our eyes, it is really concealed kindness.
The Mitzrim ruled over the Yidden in Mitzrayim with an iron fist, subjugating them to painful labor and slavery. They even cast the Jewish male children into the Nile. Despite all of this, we don't find in the first perek of the story that the Jewish nation cried, complained, or prayed to Hashem. The first time we find this is in pasuk (2:23), where it states, מִן יִשְׂרָאֵל בְנֵי וַיֵּא ָנְחוּ מ ִצְר ַיִם מֶלֶ ךְ וַיָּמָת וַיִּזְע ָקוּ הָע ֲבֹדָה, "The king of Mitzrayim died, and Bnei Yisrael moaned from the labor, and they cried out..." Since the Torah doesn't mention any crying or complaining until this pasuk, it seems that until now, the Jewish nation didn't protest. But why is that? Is it because they accepted Hashem's decree of galus with love, with the belief that Hashem was leading them in the best way? If so, what happened now that they began to shout and cry out to Hashem?
Reb Yitzchak of Volozhin zt'l explains that the Jewish nation didn't shout, cry, and pray at the beginning of their slavery because they thought that their problems were only for a limited amount of time, just until Pharaoh dies. But then Pharaoh died, and their tzaros only increased! That is when the Yidden realized that their tzaros were sent from Heaven. They prayed to Hashem, and immediately their salvation started. As it states (2:23-24) מ ִצְר ַיִם מֶלֶ ךְ וַיָּמָת הָהֵם הָר ַבִּים ב ַיָּמ ִים וַיְהִי הָא ֱלֹק ִים אֶל שׁ ַוְעָתָם וַתַּעַל וַיִּזְע ָקוּ הָע ֲבֹדָה מִן יִשְׂרָאֵל בְנֵי וַיֵּא ָנְחוּ בְּרִיתוֹ אֶת א ֱלֹק ִים וַיִּזְכֹּר נַאֲקָתָם אֶת אֱלֹקים וַיִּשְׁמַע ,הָע ֲבֹדָה מִן יַע ֲקֹב ְאֶת ו יִצְחָק אֶת א ַבְרָהָם אֶת, "Now it came to pass in those many days that the king of Egypt died, and Bnei Yisrael moaned from the labor, and they cried out, and their cry ascended to Hashem from the labor. Hashem heard their cry, and Hashem remembered His covenant with Avraham, with Yitzchak, and with Yaakov." The pesukim after this say that Hashem appeared to Moshe in a burning bush and told him to extract the Yidden from Mitzrayim. The salvation came immediately after they turned to Hashem in prayer. We conclude that if the Jewish nation had realized from the onset that their tzaros were sent from Heaven, and they had prayed for their redemption, their salvation would have begun then, and they would have avoided years of suffering.
This is a lesson for each person, with the issues and tzaros that he goes through – because every person has challenges in life. It is important to recognize that everything comes from Hashem. With this realization, he will turn to Hashem to request salvation. And when he does so, it will come quickly, b'ezras Hashem.
