The Torah tells us that on the third day after Avraham’s circumcision, “G‑d appeared to him... and he was sitting at the entrance of his tent when the day was hot.”
The Torah makes a point of telling us about the extreme weather conditions at the time of this episode because, as Rashi explains, “G‑d took the sun out of its sheath so as not to trouble Avraham with visitors.” Nevertheless, Rashi continues, “When G‑d saw that he was troubled that no guests were coming, He brought angels to him in the likeness of men.”
According to Rashi’s explanation, G‑d caused that day to be unnaturally hot in order to spare Avraham the burden of entertaining visitors, but this unnatural absence of guests ultimately anguished Avraham. Did G‑d’s plan go awry? Was His interference with the normal weather a waste? Of course not. Clearly, although the plan was successful, as Divine plans always are, something changed that turned the absence of guests from a convenience into a source of distress.
What caused that change for Avraham? The answer lies in the words of the verse: “G‑d appeared to him.”
Avraham was instinctively generous. Being kind and hospitable to people in need came naturally to him. Yet even Avraham’s generous spirit was stimulated only when he knew or saw someone in need. Therefore, in the absence of a situation requiring his attention, such as when the unbearable heat kept all travelers from passing through his area, Avraham was able to rest and recuperate from the circumcision he had undergone a few days earlier. G‑d’s plan worked out to a T.
But things changed for Avraham when G‑d appeared to him. G‑d’s immeasurable kindness, revealed to Avraham on that day, evoked within Avraham an even greater spirit of generosity than before. Mirroring G‑d’s benevolence, Avraham became filled with such drive and motivation to be kind and giving that the lack of passerby suddenly became a terrible source of anxiety, and he desperately wished he could find someone with whom to share.
Sensing his anguish, G‑d granted Avraham’s new desire: “He lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing beside him...”
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 5, pp. 329–330, fn. 99
