Finding Happiness in Hashem

From Most Beautiful Nation by Rabbi Avigdor Miller

There is a certain basic urge in humanity: the desire to come close to Hashem. It is expressed here [in Shir Hashirim] by a young woman, who is the metaphor for the Jewish people, speaking in absentia to her beloved. 

She says to him, Give me an opportunity to come to you, and I shall run after you. All I need is some signal from you. Even if the king brings me into his palace and showers me with every luxury, it’s not going to cause me to forget what my true yearning is — and that’s only for you. Despite everything, “nagilah v’nismicha bach — we are going to find joy and happiness only in you” (Shir Hashirim 1:4). The palace isn’t going to make us forget about you. ​

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No matter what kind of happiness we have in this world, it’s not going to cause us to forget Hashem

We shall make mention of your love more than wine. Wine is being served to this young woman, and the king is putting blandishments, one after the other, upon her. Nevertheless, the wine has no taste; all the delicacies of the palace are flat to her palate because she’s thinking only of her loved one. Her beloved is a shepherd youth who cannot compete with the king in luxuries. Nevertheless, she states that she loves him rightly — not for any ulterior motive, only because of himself.

The Jewish people are speaking here; they are stating that no matter what kind of success and happiness they’re going to have in this world, it’s not going to cause them to forget Hashem, their only love. This is not merely an idealistic declaration, a poetic thought that an inspired poet voiced. It’s actually a description of the way the Jewish people lived in generations past.