Rise and Sing by Night and the Thanksgiving of David

"Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord; lift up your hands to Him for the life of your children, who faint with hunger at the head of every street" (Lamentations 2:19). Blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed is He, whose mercies are abundant over Israel forever. Even though they spoiled their deeds before the Holy One, and the Holy One is angry with them, even so His mercies are upon them every single day, as it is said, "The mercies of the LORD I will sing forever; to all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth" (Psalms 89). And so He explains through Isaiah the prophet, "This people I formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise" (Isaiah 43). And it says, "I will recall the mercies of the LORD, the praises of the LORD... great in goodness toward the house of Israel, which He bestowed on them according to His mercies... In all their distress He was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them, in His love" (Isaiah 63). I have here only the distress of the community; from where do I learn the distress of the individual? Scripture teaches, "He shall call upon Me and I will answer him" (Psalms 91). If so, why is it said, "In all their distress He was distressed"? Rather, the Holy One said: In every single trouble that Israel has, as it were, I am with them. Do not read "He was distressed [lo tzar]" but "to Me there is distress [li tzar]," as it is said, "And He said to me, You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified" (Isaiah 49). Therefore it is said, "Arise, cry out in the night." What is "pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord"? From here they said: Any disciple of the wise who sits and reads and studies and occupies himself with Torah, the Holy One sits opposite him and reads and studies with him. For here it says "before the face of the Lord," and elsewhere it says, "And these camped facing those" (1 Kings 20:29) - just as there their faces were toward one another, so here too. Another interpretation of "pour out your heart": Because the mercies of the Holy One are abundant over Israel forever, over the wicked among them and the righteous among them. And how do you know this? Go and learn from David king of Israel, to whom, out of the love He loved him and the joy He had in him, He sent words by the hand of Nathan the prophet, as it is said, "And it was on that night that the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, Go and say to My servant David... Will you build Me a house for My dwelling? For I have not dwelt in a house..." until "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever" (2 Samuel 7). From here they said: Whoever dines with his fellow, even bread with salt, even if that diner has a hundred meals a day like Solomon's feast in his prime, even so he holds gratitude to his fellow to his face. When David heard this, he came and sat before the Divine Presence and bowed his full height to the ground and said: My Father in Heaven, may Your great Name be blessed forever and ever, and may You have contentment from Israel Your servants in all the places where they dwell, for You have made us great and exalted us and sanctified us and praised us, and bound for us a crown of words of Torah from one end of the world to the other. The Torah I did before You, I did from what is Yours; the acts of lovingkindness I did before You, I did from what is Yours; and even so, as reward for the little Torah I did before You, You have granted me this world and the days of the son of David and the world to come, as it is said, "And King David came and sat before the LORD and said, Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me thus far?" (2 Samuel 7:18). Happy is the one who knows in his heart what he is before his Father in Heaven, and does all his deeds in trust upon his Father in Heaven. Happy is the one who fears Heaven in concealment and leans and trusts as one who grasps a shield and buckler, as it is said, "And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song... and he said, The LORD is my rock and my fortress... my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower and my refuge" (2 Samuel 22).