Crying, Pain & Tears: 2a

We can now understand why it is that on Tisha B'Av we cry out to Hashem from a position of closeness. We are constantly mentioning how close we had been to Him and how distanced we have become. In the Torah reading on Tisha B'Av we read "If you ask about the earlier days... did such a great thing ever occur or was anything similar ever heard of? Did a nation hear the voice of God speaking from the fire and live? Did God try to come and take a nation from the midst of a nation with miracles signs and wonders? And with battle, a strong hand and a outstretched arm and very terrifying things, as Hashem your God did for you before your very eyes in Egypt?! You have been shown this to know that Hashem is God, there is none other than He."
These verses, which our Sages say are written in the Tefillin worn by God, which speak of His great love for the Jewish Nation are the ones selected for reading on Tisha B'Av. If you ponder them you will realize that they contain a frightening rebuke to the Jewish nation as well as a prayer to Hashem from within exile and suffering; that's why these verses are read in the midst of a day of destruction. But look how sweetly this rebuke is written. There are no shouts, only a mention of a deep closeness. That's what is found in God's Tefillin. By the time we are done with that, is there any room to discuss sins and punishments? Despite all the pain of the destruction we are left with the feeling that God's love will never abandon us.