Yaakov's difficult life: because Moshiach hasn't come

The Torah relates that Yosef took Ya'akov to Pharaoh and Pharaoh asked him. "How old are you?" Ya'akov responded, "The years of my travails are 130. The days of the years of my life have been few and hard..."

...There is a deeper message in the concept that Ya'akov considered his life short because he was not able to fill it with the spiritual content that he desired. Our Sages relate, "Ya'akov desired to live in prosperity." In an ultimate sense, this refers to the perfect goodness and prosperity of the Era of the Redemption. From the time Yosef was born, Ya'akov was ready for the Redemption, and since this potential was not realized at that time, he considered his life as lacking.

This is particularly relevant to us, the last generation of the exile and the first generation of the Redemption, we must feel that until the Redemption becomes manifest, our lives are lacking. This perception should lead to an increased desire and yearning for the Redemption and also an increase in the activities that will hasten the coming of the Redemption: an increase in the spreading of the wellsprings of Chassidus and an increase in Mivtza Chanukah, the Chanukah campaign.

Sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shabbos Parshas Mikeitz, 5752