The Shach al HaTorah notes that אלקים is gematria 86. The final words of the pasuk are ה"הוי אני, and their gematria is 87. Thus, the gematria of ה"הוי אני is one more than אלקים.
The Shach al HaTorah explains that אלקים expresses Hashem's attribute of harsh justice, which is the root of dinim, hardships people go through in life, each person in their own way. We want everything to be רחמים, with Hashem's compassion, without any tzaros. How can we accomplish that? Hashem adds ף"אל, one more, and then אלקים (Hashem's name for harsh justice) becomes ה"הוי אני, (Hashem's name for compassion, רחמים), and everything becomes visibly good.
Rebbe Hershele Liska (Ach Pri Tevuah) quotes this vort and adds, "I think that this is the meaning of the Shach al HaTorah’s words: When a person goes through difficult times...he must believe that it didn’t happen by chance, chas veshalom. Everything happens through Hashem's hashgachah..." When one truly believes that whatever he is going through comes from the "One" Hashem, this adds one more to the gematria of אלקים, and it turns into ה"הוי אני, and everything becomes compassionate and good.
In other words, the belief that everything is from Hashem and nothing happens by chance sweetens the dinim and makes everything good.
Rebbe Hershele Liska asks, "Why did Hashem create dinim in the first place? Hashem could have given us perfect chesed [without requiring us to sweeten harshness with our emunah]."
Rebbe Hershele Liska replies that Hashem wanted us to turn situations around on our own so that we will be deserving of the good we receive. Otherwise, we would be embarrassed to receive so much goodness from Hashem.
He writes, "Chazal tell us that an apikores once asked Reb Akiva, 'Whose deeds are better, Hashem's or man's?' Reb Akiva understood that he was asking why we circumcise ourselves (bris milah). Isn't Hashem's deeds [the way Hashem created man] better? Reb Akiva asked a servant to bring in loaves of bread. The loaves, made by man, were obviously an improvement over the wheat that was used to bake the bread. Reb Akiva was teaching that Hashem wants man to improve, elevate, and rectify himself so that we won't be embarrassed to receive His goodness. It shouldn’t be דכיסופא נהמא, shameful bread." Hashem wants us, through our emunah, to make everything good.
The Gemara (Taanis 21.) writes that זו גם איש נחום earned his special title because he would always say, לטובה זו גם, "This, too, is for the good."
It seems that the most important word is missing from his name! His name should have been זו גם איש נחום לטובה, "Nachum, the man who says, this, too, is for the good." Why is it זו גם איש נחום, omitting the entire point?
Rebbe Hershele Liska zt'l answers, "The word גם is an indication that something should be added (see Bava Kama 65:). Nachum would add one more to the name אלקים, turning it into ה"הוי אני. Perhaps we can also explain that he would always say זו גם, 'This, too, is from Hashem.' And due to his belief, everything became לטובה, good."
Rebbe Aizik of Komarna zt'l (Zohar Chai, Va'eirah, 'בה בטחו ה"ד) writes, "Believe me, my brothers, if it weren't that I believed that Hashem stands behind everything that happens, and that Hashem's hashgachah is over every detail, I would be lost from the world (i.e., depressed and broken) long ago due to all the hardships, distress, poverty, exile, and shame that I endured... But Hashem helped me, and I don’t get distressed over these troubles. Because when a person truly believes that there is nothing in the world other than Hashem, all the dinim (hardships) are sweetened in the wake of his emunah. Even without shouting out to Hashem in prayer, with only emunah and bitachon, everything will turn into visible chesed, immediately."
This is hinted at in this week's parashah, as it states (6:7), מצרים סבלות מתחת אתכם המוציא אלקיכם 'ה אני כי וידעתם. We can read the pasuk like this: אלקיכם 'ה אני כי וידעתם, when you believe in Hashem, מצרים סבלות מתחת אתכם המוציא, Hashem will extract you from your troubles.
We find a source for this lesson in Yalkut Shimoni (519). It states, "Emunah is very precious to the One who created the world... Our forefathers were redeemed from Mitzrayim because they had emunah. As it states (4:31), העם ויאמן, 'The nation believed.'" Similarly, each person merits his personal salvation when he has emunah and believes that any situation he finds himself in was planned and arranged by Hashem.
Reb Mendel lives in Yerushalayim, and his hishtadlus for parnassah is that he buys and sells antique sefarim.
On the night before his daughter's chasunah, Reb Mendel was sitting at the table with his wife and children and said, "I need twenty-five thousand dollars for tomorrow's chasunah, and I have no idea how I will get it. But I'm not worried. Hashem put me into this situation, and Hashem will take me out. Somehow, Hashem will help..."
While he was talking with his family, Shimon, a dealer of rare sefarim, knocked on his door and asked Reb Mendel if he had any antique sefarim for sale.
Reb Mendel replied, "I recently bought a three-hundred-year-old set of Rambam for fifty dollars. There are many Talmudic notes in the margins. It is obvious that a great scholar once owned it, but I couldn’t figure out who that scholar was. Without knowing the name of the scholar, the set doesn’t have any financial value. In fact, I offered it to someone for fifty dollars, and he declined."
Shimon perused the sefer and became excited. "I think I might know who the original owner was, and if I'm right, it is worth a lot of money. Can I bring it home to study it?"
Reb Mendel replied, "You can bring it home, and you can sell it, too. Give me 5/6ths of the sale, and you can keep 1/6th for yourself."
Shimon discovered that this set of Rambam had once belonged to the Pri Chadash. The proof is that the chidushim on the margin are the same as are written in the Pri Chadash's sefer. Shimon sold it for thirty thousand dollars. Shimon kept a sixth for himself (five thousand dollars), and he gave twenty-five thousand dollars to Reb Mendel, the exact amount he needed for his daughter's chasunah that was held later that same day.
Reb Mendel believed that his tight financial state was arranged by Hashem (and he trusted in Hashem), and this opened the gates of bounty, and he received the funds he needed for the chasunah.
It states (Mishlei 27:5) מֵאַהֲבָה מְג ֻלָּה ת ּוֹכַחַת טוֹבָה מְסֻתָּרֶת. The Ohev Yisrael explains the pasuk as follows: The מְג ֻלָּה ת ּוֹכַחַת, "revealed rebuke," alludes to the punishment and the hardships people endure. טוֹבָה, it is good. The good part is the מְסֻתָּרֶת אַהֲבָה, Hashem's concealed love. Because within this tzarah is Hashem's kindness, in a concealed form.
This is the meaning of the words, וַיְד ַבֵּר 'ה אֲנִי אֵל ָיו וַיֹּאמֶר ֶׁהמֹש אֶל א ֱלֹק ִים, Hashem spoke harsh words to Moshe because Moshe had complained and said (Shemos 5:22) לָעָם הֲר ֵעֹתָה לָמָה ה ַזֶּה. Moshe was asking Hashem why things had become harder for the Jewish nation. Ever since Hashem sent him to bring the nation out of Mitzrayim, Pharaoh only increased the amount of work they needed to do!
Hashem's response comes immediately afterwards. Hashem says ה"הוי אֲנִי. This is the name that expresses Hashem's compassion. Hashem was saying that also those matters that seem bad are really 'ה אֲנִי, Hashem's kindness. Hashem's compassion and kindness are there, concealed within the tzaros.
