Hashem responded to his copious prayers, and his wife Rivkah conceived. (Bereishis 25:21)
“Prayed copiously” – He offered many pleading prayers. (Rashi)
What should you do if your prayers are not answered?
Chazal say in Berachos:
If a person sees that he prayed, but was not answered, he should pray again, as it says, “Hope to Hashem, be strong and fortify your heart, and hope to Hashem [again].”
There is a difference between a request made to Hashem and a request made to a fellow human being. Let’s say we ask something of a person, and he doesn’t grant our request. If we keep on asking him and pleading to him, he will feel bothered and burdened. It is not so with Hashem. On the contrary, He wants us to ask again and again, to beg and plead over and over.
Chazal say that Moshe Rabbeinu prayed to enter Eretz Yisrael 515 times. This number equals the gematriya of ואתחנן . And early Torah sources say that if he would have continued to plead, Hashem would have granted his request.
Why is Hashem different from human beings in this respect? Because when we ask something from a human being, our goal is only to get what we are requesting. If he doesn’t grant our request when we ask for it, this is because he doesn’t want to, or is unable to. So what’s to be gained by asking him again and again, since he doesn’t want to grant our request? If we keep repeating our request, this naturally pushes him to do what he is asked to, although he doesn’t really want to. It makes him feel pressured. Consequently, the more we ask him and plead to him, the more we are going against his will. We are bothering him and burdening him more and more.
Not so with Hashem. First of all, as regards our asking Him to grant us something, He surely wants to give us our request. There is nothing that blocks or limits Hashem’s infinite kindness and mercy. His chesed is boundless. The only reason we even need to ask for it – which is also why we were lacking it in the first place – is not because Hashem didn’t want to give it to us. Rather, it is because He wants us to ask for it, so that the request itself will be heard, thus bringing us closer to Him by standing before Him in avodah and tefillah.
Why were our foremothers barren? Because Hakadosh Baruch Hu desires the prayers of the tzaddikim (Yalkut Shimoni, Toldos 110).
From the outstart, Hashem wants to give us what we ask for. But He wants us to daven for it, for our own benefit.
Consequently, the more we ask and plead and daven and beg, the more Hashem loves us and is pleased with us. This is for two reasons. First, because we are facilitating the granting of our request, which is what Hashem wanted all along. Second, because we are drawing closer to Hashem and becoming more attached to Him, which is the whole reason why Hashem did not grant it to us immediately.
So the more we ask and plead, the more we are fulfilling Hashem’s holy Will.
