At the beginning of the sh’mona esray we say 'ה שפתי תפתח , Hashem open my lips. The reason for this is based on the gemara that says that ר' חנינה בן דוסא would say that if his tefilos flowed smoothly he knew he was answered. However, if they didn't flow then he knew they weren't accepted. We say this short prayer before we daven to ask Hashem that our tefilos should go smoothly so that they will be accepted. That, too, is why Moshe said לאמר that before I even begin to pray, I'm asking that my prayers flow smoothly & then I will merit to be answered.
Later on the parsha says ואהבת את ה' אלקיך , that we are commanded to love Hashem. Asks רע"א how is it that we are commanded to love? Is it possible to force someone to love someone else? He explains that before we say shema, we end with the beracha of הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה , who chose his nation of Israel with love. If Hashem loves us, then, since love is reciprocal, if Hashem loves us then it follows that we will love him too.
We see, too, that this love of Hashem is unconditional, as the תנא דבי אליהו explains what Hashem said to Moshe, " I can't tell you my all ways but I will tell you some; when I see a person who many not have many good deeds, doesn't learn or do mitzvos, but does stand & daven before me with utter devotion, I am obligated to them to double their livelihood.
How do we tap into this benevolence of Hashem?
The Chafetz Chaim says that all problems that befall us from which we aren't saved, are caused by our lack of sincerity in davening; we don't cry & increase our kavana. Once, one of the people that lived in Radin came to the Chaftez Chaim so that he should daven for them. The Chofetz Chaim asked the fellow if he had already davened for this himself. When the fellow answered yes, the Chofetz Chaim asked him to go home & get the sefer tehillim that he used to daven.
The man went home & returned a short while later with the tehillim & gave it to the Chafetz Chaim who looked at it, flipped through some of the pages & said to the man "this is called davening? I will show you what davening is". The Chofetz Chaim, despite his old age, walked slowly over to the bookshelf, took a chair & took down a sefer tehiilim from the top shelf. He gave it to the man who saw that the pages were all hard & discolored from the many tear stains throughout the sefer. "This was my Mother’s tehillim; look at the pages covered with her tears; that's called davening!
Perhaps if we could train ourselves to daven with tears, to really feel what we’re saying, then, even if we don't do everything else right, we’re tapping into the love that we feel for Hashem. Then, He will turn that love around to us & answer our prayers!
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